Group peer-to-peer financial transactions

ABSTRACT

Various techniques are provided for carrying out peer-to-peer financial transactions using one or more electronic devices. In one embodiment, a request for payment is transmitted from a first device to a second device using a near field communication (NFC) interface. In response to the request, the second device may transmit payment information to the first device. The first device may select a crediting account and, using a suitable communication protocol, may communicate the received payment information and selected crediting account to one or more external financial servers configured to process and determine whether the payment may be authorized. If the payment is authorized, a payment may be credited to the selected crediting account. In a further embodiment, a device may include a camera configured to obtain an image of a payment instrument. The device may further include an application to extract payment information from the acquired image.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/286,494, filed on Sep. 30, 2008, entitled “Group Peer-To-PeerFinancial Transactions”, which is expressly incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to peer-to-peertransactions and, more particularly, to various systems, methods, andelectronic devices configured to initiate and process such transactions.

2. Description of the Related Art

This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects ofart that may be related to various aspects of the present techniques,which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed tobe helpful in providing the reader with background information tofacilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the presentdisclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statementsare to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.

Many payment instruments currently exist and may be used to carry outfinancial exchanges between two or more parties. For instance, paymentsmay be made using credit cards, debit cards, checks, electronic checks,and cash. In recent years, the growth of electronic commerce has atleast partially attributed to the popularity of credit cards, debitcards, and other non-currency based payment instruments. Further,because a consumer may not always have a precise amount of cash on handto pay an outstanding invoice or bill, such as to a vendor or retailer,it may, at times, be more convenient to charge the owed amount to theconsumer's credit card.

As we move to a more mobile and fast-paced society, the use of cash orcurrency is being increasingly replaced by electronic transactions usingcredit cards, debit cards, etc. Accordingly, it is not uncommon forconsumers to hold multiple non-currency accounts concurrently (e.g.,multiple credit cards or debits cards corresponding to a respectivebanking provider), each of which may be dedicated for a particular typeof purchase or financial exchange. For example, a consumer mayconcurrently hold a credit card account that may be dedicated for gas orautomotive purchases, a credit card account specifically fortravel-related purchases, a general purpose credit card account formiscellaneous purchases, as well as one or more loyalty credit cardaccounts that may be used only with specific retailers or vendors. Inaddition, the consumer may also hold, concurrently, one or more debitcard accounts associated with respective banking providers.

As can be appreciated, the consumer may make payments or participate infinancial exchanges using any of the above-discussed accounts by way ofa payment instrument representing the account, such as a credit card. Asthe number of payment accounts held by the consumer increases, however,it may become increasingly inconvenient to carry such a large number ofcredit/debit cards. Further, while payments made using theabove-discussed accounts may be readily compatible with retailer andvendor businesses, including those established online on the Internet,payments made from these accounts may not always be readily accepted byother consumers or “peers.”

SUMMARY

Certain aspects of embodiments disclosed herein by way of example aresummarized below. It should be understood that these aspects arepresented merely to provide the reader with a brief summary of thevarious techniques disclosed and/or claimed herein might take and thatthese aspects are not intended to limit the scope of any techniquedisclosed and/or claimed herein. Indeed, any technique disclosed and/orclaimed herein may encompass a variety of aspects that may not be setforth below.

The present disclosure generally relates to various techniques forperforming peer-to-peer transactions using a portable device. Inaccordance with one disclosed embodiment, a portable electronic devicemay be configured to store information representing one or more accountsheld by a user. For instance, the stored information may represent oneor more credit card accounts held by the user. As used in the presentdisclosure, the term “credit card” shall be understood to encompass anytype of card, including those in conformance with the ISO 7810 standard,such as credit cards, debit cards, charge cards, gift cards, or thelike. In one embodiment, a credit card may store a user's accountinformation using a magnetic stripe encoded on the card (e.g., ISO 7813standard). In other embodiments, as will be described below, a creditcard may include a storage device (e.g., in addition to theabove-mentioned magnetic stripe) configured to store the user's accountinformation. The portable device may also be configured to storeinformation relating to one or more bank accounts held by the user.

The portable device may also be provided one or more communicationinterfaces configured to send or transmit information stored on thedevice. For example, based on inputs or commands received from the user,the portable device may be configured to initiate payments (e.g., as apayor) by transmitting payment information corresponding to a creditaccount stored on the device, for example, to an external device (e.g.,as a payee). In one embodiment, the receiving device may be a similarportable electronic device. Additionally, the device may be configuredto receive payment information from the external device and to initiatea transaction request in order to process the received paymentinformation, such that a corresponding payment is credited to anappropriate account stored on the device (e.g., a bank account). Forinstance, the transaction request may include communicating with one ormore external servers configured to provide an authorization for therequested transaction.

The electronic device may further include one or more input device, suchas a camera device, as well as a plurality of communication interfaces,which may include a near field communication (NFC) interface. Inaccordance with one embodiment, the device may initiate the sending andreceiving of payment information with the external device using the NFCinterface by way of an NFC handshake operation. Additionally, theelectronic device also may use a device identification networkingprotocol to establish a communication link with the external device inorder to receive or send payment information.

In a further embodiment, the electronic device may include an imageprocessing application for processing an image to extract information.For instance, using the camera input device discussed above, an image ofa payor's payment instrument, which may include a credit card, check,etc., may be acquired. The acquired image may be processed in order toextract and determine information relating to the payment accountrepresented by the payment instrument. Thus, the electronic device maytransmit a request including the extracted payment account informationto one or more financial servers for the authorization of a paymentusing the extracted information. Accordingly, the presently describedtechniques, which may include methods, systems, and devices, may providefor a convenient method and system for performing peer-to-peer financialexchanges, as well as provide for a single transaction point for thesending and receiving payments, thus reducing or eliminating the needfor the user to carry each physical payment instruments (e.g., multiplecredit/debit cards).

The presently described techniques may also provide one or more systemsfor performing a group transaction including a plurality of grouptransaction members may be provided. In one embodiment, the grouptransaction members may include an initiator operating the electronicdevice. The initiator may initiate a primary transaction to pay theentirety of a group invoice containing amounts owed by each of the grouptransaction members. Thereafter, the initiator may perform one or moresecondary transactions with each of the remaining group transactionmembers to collect the respective amounts owed. As can be appreciated,the collection of the outstanding payments may be performed using one ormore of the communication or image processing techniques brieflyexplained above. Also, in a further embodiment, the initiator may be theoriginator of the invoice and directly collect payments corresponding toamounts owed by the group transaction members (e.g., without theabove-discussed primary transaction).

The electronic device may further be provided an application, such as acomputer program stored on one or more machine-readable media, adaptedto provide the functions discussed above. In one embodiment, the devicemay include a display and the application may provide for a graphicaluser interface viewable on the display. By way of the graphicalinterface, the user may operate the device to perform one or more of theabove-mentioned functions, which will be described in further detailbelow.

Various refinements of the features noted above may exist in relation tovarious aspects of the present disclosure. Further features may also beincorporated in these various aspects as well. These refinements andadditional features may exist individually or in any combination. Forinstance, various features discussed below in relation to one or more ofthe illustrated embodiments may be incorporated into any of theabove-described aspects of the present disclosure alone or in anycombination. Again, the brief summary presented above is intended onlyto familiarize the reader with certain aspects and contexts ofembodiments of the present disclosure without limitation to the claimedsubject matter.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentdisclosure will become better understood when the following detaileddescription of certain exemplary embodiments is read with reference tothe accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like partsthroughout the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front view of an electronic device in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the electronic device illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram depicting components which may beused in the electronic device illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the processing of a peer-to-peertransaction between the device of FIG. 1 and an external device incommunication with the device of FIG. 1, wherein the device of FIG. 1acts as a payee device, and wherein the external device acts as a payordevice in the accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 5A shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on the deviceof FIG. 1 illustrating a method for storing credit card information intothe device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5B shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on the deviceof FIG. 1 illustrating a method for verifying the credit cardinformation entered in FIG. 5A;

FIG. 6A shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on the deviceof FIG. 1 illustrating a method of storing banking information into thedevice of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6B shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on the deviceof FIG. 1 illustrating a method for verifying the banking informationstored in FIG. 6A;

FIG. 7 shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on the deviceof FIG. 1 illustrating a method for configuring a default paymentaccount on the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on the deviceof FIG. 1 illustrating a method for configuring a default creditingaccount on the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on the deviceof FIG. 1 illustrating a method for configuring an authorization PINcode in accordance with one embodiment;

FIGS. 10A and 10B show a plurality of screens that may be displayed onthe device of FIG. 1 illustrating a method for locking and unlocking atransaction application stored on the device of FIG. 1 in accordancewith one embodiment;

FIG. 11A depicts a flowchart illustrating a method of operating thepayee device of FIG. 4 to initiate a transaction in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 11B depicts a flowchart illustrating a method of operating thepayor device of FIG. 4 to respond to the transaction initiated by themethod of FIG. 11A in accordance with one embodiment;

FIGS. 12A-12C are schematic representations of systems adapted to carryout various types of transactions that may be performed between thepayee and payor devices of FIG. 4 in accordance with aspects of thepresent technique;

FIG. 13 is a schematic representation illustrating a communicationprocess that may occur between the payee and payor devices of FIG. 4during the transactions depicted by FIGS. 12A-12C;

FIG. 14A shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on thedevice of FIG. 1 illustrating a method for initiating a payment requestto be transmitted to a payor device in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 14B shows a plurality of screens depicting the transmission of thepayment request of FIG. 14A from the payee device to the payor deviceusing an established communication channel;

FIGS. 14C and 14D illustrate the establishment of the communicationchannel of FIG. 14B;

FIGS. 14E-14G show a plurality of screens that may be displayed on payordevice illustrating various methods for selecting a payment account inresponse to the payment request of FIG. 14A;

FIG. 14H shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on the payordevice for initiating the transmission of the payment accountinformation selected in FIG. 14E to the payee device;

FIG. 14I shows a plurality of screens depicting the transmission of thepayment account information selected in FIG. 14E to from the payordevice to the payee device using the established communication channelof FIG. 14B;

FIG. 14J shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on the payeedevice illustrating a method for selecting a crediting account andcompleting the transaction originally initiated in FIG. 14A;

FIG. 15A depicts one or more steps of the method illustrated in FIG. 11Ain further detail in accordance with the transactions depicted in FIGS.12A-12C;

FIG. 15B depicts certain steps of the method illustrated in FIG. 11B inaccordance with the transactions depicted in FIGS. 12A-12C;

FIG. 16A depicts a flowchart illustrating a method in which the payordevice of FIG. 4 is operated to initiate a transaction in accordancewith one embodiment;

FIG. 16B depicts a flowchart illustrating a method in which the payeedevice of FIG. 4 is operated to respond to the transaction initiated inFIG. 16A in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 17A shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on a payordevice illustrating a method for initiating a transaction in accordancewith the methods described in FIGS. 16A-16B in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 17B shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on a payeedevice illustrating a method for selecting a crediting account andcompleting the transaction initiated by FIG. 17A;

FIG. 18 is a schematic representation of a system adapted to carry out atransaction in which a selected payment account includes a non-cashaccount in accordance with one embodiment;

FIGS. 19A and 19B show a plurality of screens that may be displayed on apayor device illustrating a method for selecting the non-cash account ofFIG. 18 as a payment account and initiating a transaction in accordancewith one embodiment;

FIG. 19C shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on a payeedevice illustrating a method for selecting a non-cash crediting accountin accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 19D shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on a payeedevice illustrating a method for selecting a crediting account andcompleting the transaction initiated in FIG. 19A;

FIG. 20 is a schematic representation of a system adapted to carry out atransaction in which a selected payment account is provided by a smartcard;

FIG. 21A depicts one or more steps of the method illustrated in FIG. 11Ain further detail in accordance with the transaction depicted in FIG.20;

FIG. 21B depicts certain steps of the method illustrated in FIG. 11B inaccordance with the transaction depicted in FIG. 20;

FIG. 22A shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on a payeedevice of FIG. 18 illustrating a method for receiving paymentinformation stored on the smart card of FIG. 18 in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 22B illustrates the establishment of the communication channelbetween the payee device and the smart card of FIG. 18 for thetransmission of the payment information in FIG. 22A;

FIG. 22C illustrates a plurality of screens that may be displayed on apayee device illustrating a method for selecting a crediting account andcompleting the transaction initiated in FIG. 22A;

FIG. 23 is a schematic representation of a system adapted to carry out atransaction in which a selected payment account is provided using amagnetic credit card provided by the payor in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 24 is a schematic representation of a system adapted to carry out atransaction in which a selected payment account is provided using acheck provided by the payor in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 25A depicts one or more steps of the method illustrated in FIG. 11Ain further detail in accordance with the transactions depicted in FIGS.23 and 24;

FIG. 25B depicts one or more steps of the method illustrated in FIG. 11Bin further detail in accordance with the transactions depicted in FIGS.23 and 24;

FIG. 26A shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on a payeedevice illustrating a method for acquiring an image of the credit cardof FIG. 23 in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 26B depicts a technique for processing the image acquired in FIG.26A for the extraction of payment information;

FIG. 26C shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on a payeedevice illustrating a method for editing information obtained by theimage processing step depicted in FIG. 26B;

FIG. 26D shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on a payeedevice illustrating a method for selecting a crediting account andcompleting the transaction initiated in FIG. 22A;

FIGS. 27A and 27B show a plurality of screens that may be displayed on apayee device illustrating a method for acquiring an image of the checkin FIG. 24 in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 27C depicts a technique for processing the image acquired in FIG.27B for the extraction of payment information;

FIG. 27D shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on a payeedevice illustrating a method for selecting a crediting account andcompleting the transaction initiated in FIG. 27A;

FIG. 27E shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on a payeedevice illustrating a method for acquiring an image of the check in FIG.24 in accordance with a further embodiment;

FIG. 27F depicts a technique for processing the image acquired in FIG.27E for the extraction of payment information;

FIG. 27G shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on a payeedevice illustrating a method for selecting a crediting account andcompleting the transaction initiated in FIG. 27A based on the imageacquired in FIG. 27E;

FIG. 28 is a schematic representation of a system adapted to carry out agroup transaction including multiple payors in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 29 depicts a flowchart illustrating a method of for performing thegroup transaction of FIG. 28;

FIG. 30A shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on aninitiator device illustrating a method for initiating a primary portionof the group transaction of FIG. 28;

FIGS. 30B and 30C show a plurality of screens that may be displayed onan initiator device illustrating a method for completing the primarytransaction initiated in FIG. 30A and further initiating a secondaryportion of the group transaction;

FIG. 30D shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on an payordevice illustrating a method for joining the group transaction of FIG.28;

FIG. 30E shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on aninitiator device illustrating a technique for adding additionaltransaction members to the group transaction depicted in FIG. 28;

FIG. 30F shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on aninitiator device illustrating a technique for apportioning invoice itemsto a group transaction member;

FIG. 30G shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on aninitiator device illustrating a technique for apportioning invoice itemsto two or more group transaction members;

FIG. 30H shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on aninitiator device illustrating a method for viewing a partial invoice inaccordance with one embodiment;

FIGS. 30I-30L show a plurality of screens that may be displayed on aninitiator device illustrating methods for collecting payments from eachof the group transaction members in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 31 is a schematic representation of a system adapted to carry out atransaction including multiple payors in accordance one embodiment;

FIGS. 32A and 32B show a plurality of screens that may be displayed on avendor device illustrating a methods for initiating the grouptransaction of FIG. 31;

FIG. 32C shows a plurality of screens that may be displayed on an vendordevice illustrating a technique for apportioning invoice items to agroup transaction member; and

FIG. 32D show a plurality of screens that may be displayed on an vendordevice illustrating methods for collecting payments from each of thegroup transaction members and completing the group transaction of FIG.31;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

One or more specific embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed below. These described embodiments are only exemplary of thepresently disclosed techniques. Additionally, in an effort to provide aconcise description of these exemplary embodiments, all features of anactual implementation may not be described in the specification. Itshould be appreciated that in the development of any such actualimplementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerousimplementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve thedevelopers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related andbusiness-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation toanother. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a developmenteffort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be aroutine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those ofordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.

The present disclosure is directed to various techniques for conductingpeer-to-peer financial exchanges using a handheld, portable electronicdevice. The handheld electronic device, in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure, may integrate several functionalities forperforming peer-to-peer transactions, including the storing informationrepresentation a user's payment accounts and crediting accounts,acquiring and sending payment information, and obtaining paymentauthorization. One or more input devices, such as a camera or near fieldcommunication (NFC) device may be provided for the acquisition ofpayment information. For example, the NFC device may be used to initiatean NFC connection with an external device for acquiring or sendingpayment information data. Additionally, the camera device may beutilized in cooperation with an image processing application to extractpayment information data from an image of a payment instrument providedby a payor. The electronic device may also be configured to communicatewith one or more external servers to acquire an authorization for apayment through a selected communication channel, such as a wide areanetwork (WAN), local area network (LAN), personal area network (PAN), ornear field communication channel. Thus, the various functions providedby an electronic device in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure, as will be described in further detail below, may provide aconvenient technique for performing peer-to-peer financial exchanges,include group exchanges involving more than two members. Indeed, as willbe discussed in further detail below, certain aspects of thebelow-described techniques may be particular useful in person-to-persontransactions conduct between individuals.

Turning now to the drawings and referring initially to FIG. 1, anelectronic device that may include one or more transaction applicationsfor providing the transaction related techniques and capabilitiesbriefly mentioned above is illustrated and generally referred to byreference numeral 10. In accordance with the illustrated embodiment, theelectronic device 10 may be a handheld device incorporating thefunctionality of one or more portable devices, such as a media player, acellular phone, a personal data organizer, and so forth. Thus, dependingon the functionalities provided by the electronic device 10, a user maylisten to music, play games, record video, take pictures, and placetelephone calls, while moving freely with the device 10. In addition,the electronic device 10 may allow a user to connect to and communicatethrough the Internet or through other networks, such as local or widearea networks. For example, the electronic device 10 may allow a user tocommunicate using e-mail, text messaging, instant messaging, or otherforms of electronic communication. The electronic device 10 also maycommunicate with other devices using short-range connection protocols,such as Bluetooth and near field communication (NFC). By way of exampleonly, the electronic device 10 may be a model of an iPhone®, availablefrom Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.

As shown in the illustrated embodiment, the device 10 may be enclosed byan enclosure or housing 12. The enclosure 12 may serve to protect theinternal components of the device 10 from physical damage. In addition,the enclosure 12 may also provide the device 10 and its internalcomponents shielding from electromagnetic interference. As will beappreciated by those skilled in the art, the enclosure 12 may be formedand/or constructed from any suitable material such as plastic, metal, ora composite material and may allow certain frequencies ofelectromagnetic radiation to pass through to wireless communicationcircuitry within the device 10 for facilitation of wirelesscommunications.

The enclosure 12 may further provide for access to various user inputstructures, depicted in FIG. 1 by reference numerals 14, 16, 18, 20, and22. By way of these user input structures, a user may interface with thedevice 10, wherein each user input structure 14, 16, 18, 20, and 22 maybe configured to control one or more device functions when pressed oractuated. By way of example, the input structure 14 may include a buttonthat when pressed or actuated causes a home screen or menu to bedisplayed on the device. The input structure 16 may include a button fortoggling the device 10 between one or more modes of operation, such as asleep mode, a wake mode, or a powered on/off mode, for example. Theinput structure 18 may include a dual-position sliding structure thatmay mute or silence a ringer in embodiments where the device 10 includesa cell phone application. Further, the input structures 20 and 22 mayinclude buttons for increasing and decreasing the volume output of thedevice 10. It should be understood that the illustrated input structures14, 16, 18, 20, and 22 are merely exemplary, and that the electronicdevice 10 may include any number of user input structures existing invarious forms including buttons, switches, control pads, keys, knobs,scroll wheels, and so forth, depending on specific implementationrequirements.

The electronic device 10 may further include a display 24 configured todisplay various images generated by the device 10. By way of example,the display 24 may be configured to display photos, movies, album art,and/or data, such as text documents, spreadsheets, text messages, ande-mail, among other things. The display 24 may also display varioussystem indicators 26 that provide feedback to a user, such as powerstatus, signal strength, call status, external device connections, orthe like. The display 24 may be any type of display such as a liquidcrystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) display, an organiclight emitting diode (OLED) display, or other suitable display. Incertain embodiments, the device 10 may include a touch sensitiveelement, such as a touch screen interface (not shown in FIG. 1) disposedadjacent to the display 24 that may function as an additional user inputstructure (e.g., in addition to structures 14, 16, 18, 20, and 22). Byway of this touch screen interface, a user may select elements displayedon the display 24 such as, for example, by touching certain elementsusing the user's finger or a stylus.

As further shown in the present embodiment, the display 24 may beconfigured to display a graphical user interface (“GUI”) 28 that allowsa user to interact with the device 10. The GUI 28 may include variousgraphical layers, windows, screens, templates, elements, or othercomponents that may be displayed on all or a portion of the display 24.For instance, the GUI 28 may display a plurality of graphical elements,depicted here generally as icons 30. By default, such as when the device10 is first powered on, the GUI 28 may be configured to display theillustrated icons 30 as a “home screen,” represented herein by thereference numeral 29. In certain embodiments, the user input structures14, 16, 18, 20, and 22, may be used to navigate through the GUI 28 and,accordingly, away from the home screen 29. For example, one or more ofthe user input structures may include a wheel structure that may allow auser to select various icons 30 displayed by the GUI 28. Additionally,the icons 30 may also be selected via the touch screen interface.

As will be appreciated, the icons 30 may represent various layers,windows, screens, templates, elements, or other components that may bedisplayed in some or all of the areas of the display 24 upon selectionby the user. Furthermore, the selection of an icon 30 may lead to orinitiate a hierarchical screen navigation process. For instance, theselection of an icon 30 may cause the display 24 to display anotherscreen that includes one or more additional icons 30 or other GUIelements. Also, as shown in the present embodiment, each graphicalelement 30 may have one or more textual indicators 32 associatedtherewith, which may be displayed on or near its respective graphicalelement 30 to facilitate user interpretation of each graphical element30. For example, the icon 34 may be associated with the textualindicator “Transactions.” It should be appreciated that the GUI 28 mayinclude various components arranged in hierarchical and/ornon-hierarchical structures.

When an icon 30 is selected, the device 10 may be configured toinitiate, open, or run an application associated with the selected icon30 and to display a corresponding screen. For example, when thetransaction icon 34 is selected, the device 10 may open a transactionprogram and display a transactions menu displaying the various tools,features available in the transaction program. Thus, for eachapplication provided on the device 10, one or more respective screen orscreens may be displayed on the display 24 that may include various userinterface elements corresponding to a respective application.

The electronic device 10 may also include various input/output (I/O)ports, such as the illustrated I/O ports 36, 38, and 40. These I/O portsmay allow a user to connect the device 10 to or interface the device 10with one or more external devices. For example, the input/output port 36may include a proprietary connection port for transmitting and receivingdata files, such as media files. The input/output port 38 may include aconnection slot for receiving a subscriber identify module (SIM) card,for instance, where the device 10 includes cell phone functionality. Theinput/output port 40 may be an audio jack that provides for connectionof audio headphones or speakers. As will appreciated, the device 10 mayinclude any number of input/output ports configured to connect to avariety of external devices, such as to a power source, a printer, and acomputer, or an external storage device, just to name a few. As willappreciated, the I/O ports may include any suitable interface type suchas a universal serial bus (USB) port, serial connection port, FireWireport (IEEE-1394), or AC/DC power connection port.

Further, in some embodiments, certain I/O ports may be configured toprovide for more than one function. For instance, in one embodiment, theI/O port 36 may be configured to not only transmit and receive datafiles, as described above, but may be further configured to couple thedevice to a power charging interface, such as an power adaptor designedto provide power from a electrical wall outlet, or an interface cableconfigured to draw power from another electrical device, such as adesktop computer. Thus, the I/O port 36 may be configured to functiondually as both a data transfer port and an AC/DC power connection portdepending, for example, on the external component being coupled to thedevice 10 through the I/O port 36.

The electronic device 10 may also include various audio input and outputelements. For example, the audio input/output elements, depictedgenerally by reference numeral 42, may include an input receiver, whichmay be provided one or more microphones. For instance, where theelectronic device 10 includes cell phone functionality, the inputreceivers may be configured to receive user audio input such as a user'svoice. Additionally, the audio input/output elements 42 may include oneor more output transmitters. Thus, where the device 10 includes a mediaplayer application, the output transmitters of the audio input/outputelements 42 may include one or more speakers for transmitting audiosignals to a user, such as playing back music files, for example.

Further, where the electronic device 10 includes a cell phoneapplication, an additional audio output transmitter 44 may be provided,as shown in FIG. 1. Like the output transmitter of the audioinput/output elements 42, the output transmitter 44 may also include oneor more speakers configured to transmit audio signals to a user, such asvoice data received during a telephone call. Thus, the input receiversand the output transmitters of the audio input/output elements 42 andthe output transmitter 44 may operate in conjunction to function as theaudio receiving and transmitting elements of a telephone.

In the illustrated embodiment, the electronic device 10 further includesa near field communication (NFC) device 46. The NFC device 46 may belocated within the enclosure 12, and a mark or symbol on the exterior ofthe enclosure 12 may identify its location within the enclosure 12. TheNFC device 46 may include an antenna that may generally be positionedalong the circumference of the housing 12, and may allow for close rangecommunication at relatively low data rates (e.g., 424 kb/s), and maycomply with standards such as ISO 18092 or ISO 21481. In someembodiments, the NFC device 46 may also allow for close rangecommunication at relatively high data rates (e.g., 560 Mbps), and maycomply with the TransferJet® protocol. As used herein, it should beunderstood that the term “NFC device” refers to both an NFCcommunication device 46, as well as the above-mentioned antenna.

In certain embodiments, the communication using the NFC device 46 mayoccur within a range of approximately 2 to 4 cm. As will be appreciatedby those skilled in the art, close range communication using the NFCdevice 46 may take place via magnetic field induction, thus allowing theNFC device 46 to communicate with other NFC-enabled devices or toretrieve information from tags having radio frequency identification(RFID) circuitry. Additionally, magnetic field induction may also allowthe NFC device 46 to “wake” or induce another NFC-enabled device that isin a passive or sleep mode into an active mode. As will discussed infurther detail below, the NFC device 46 may be utilized in conjunctionwith the transaction application described above (e.g., represented bygraphical element 34) to provide for the acquisition and transmission ofpayment and crediting information, as well as communication with one ormore external servers for processing and authorization of a transactionas well as the verification of payment and crediting accounts.

Continuing now to FIG. 2, a rear view of the electronic device 10depicted in FIG. 1 is illustrated. As shown in FIG. 2, the device 10 mayinclude a camera 48. The camera 48 may be used to acquire digital stillor moving images, such as digital photographs or movies. As will bediscussed in further detail below, the camera 48 may be utilized inconjunction with the aforementioned transaction application, depicted bythe graphical element 34, in order to acquire images of various types ofpayment instruments, such as checks or credit cards. As will be known bythose skilled in the art, various image processing techniques, such asoptical character recognition (OCR), may be applied to the processing ofthe acquired photographic images of payment instruments in order toextract information corresponding to account holder identify and accountinformation associated with a particular payment instrument.

Additional details of the illustrative device 10 may be betterunderstood through reference to FIG. 3, which is a block diagramillustrating various components and features of the device 10 inaccordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown inFIG. 3, the device 10 may include the above discussed display 24, theNFC device 46, and the camera 48, as well as a CPU 50, control circuitry52, a storage device 54, a plurality of communication interfaces 56, avideo controller 76, a touch screen interface 78, an I/O controller 80,and a power source 80.

The operation of the device 10 may be generally controlled by thecentral processing unit (CPU) 50 and the control circuit 52. Incooperation, these elements may provide the processing capabilityrequired to execute an operating system, application programs, the GUI28, and any other functions provided on the device 10. The CPU 50 mayinclude a single processor or, in other embodiments, it may include aplurality of processors. By way of example, the CPU 50 may include“general purpose” microprocessors, a combination of general andapplication-specific microprocessors, instruction set processors,graphics processors, video processors, as well as related chips setsand/or special purpose microprocessors. The control circuit 52 mayinclude one or more data buses for transferring data and instructionsbetween components of the device 10. The control circuit 52 also mayfurther include on board memory (RAM) for caching purposes.Additionally, although not illustrated in FIG. 3, the device 10 mayinclude a standalone random access memory (RAM) in communication withthe CPU 50 by way of one or more memory controllers, which may beintegrated within the control circuit 52.

Information used by the CPU 50 may be stored within a long-term storagedevice, represented by reference numeral 54. The storage device 54 ofthe electronic device 10 may be utilized for storing data required forthe operation of the CPU 50, data to be processed or executed by the CPU50, as well as other data required by the device 10, such as applicationand program data. By way of example, the storage device 54 may beconfigured to store the firmware for the electronic device 10 that isused by the CPU 50. The firmware may include an operating system, aswell as other programs or drivers that enable various functions of theelectronic device 10, GUI functions, and/or processor functions. Thestorage device 54 may also store components for the GUI 28, such asgraphical elements, screens, and templates. Additionally, the storagedevice 54 may store data files such as media (e.g., music and videofiles), image data, application software, preference information (e.g.,media playback preferences, general user preferences), wirelessconnection information (e.g., information that may enable the device 10to establish a wireless connection, such as a telephone or Internetconnection), subscription information (e.g., information that maintainsa record of podcasts, television shows or other media to which a usersubscribes), telephone information (e.g., telephone numbers), and anyother suitable data required by the device 10.

The long term storage 54 may be non-volatile memory such as read onlymemory, flash or solid state memory, a hard disk drive, or any othersuitable optical, magnetic, or solid-state computer readable media, aswell as a combination thereof. Thus, although the long term storage 54is depicted as a single device for purposes of clarity, it shouldunderstood that the long term storage 54 may include one or more of acombination of the above-listed storage devices operating in conjunctionwith the CPU 50.

Further, in certain embodiments, the storage device 54 may include animage processing application configured to perform extraction of textualor encoded information from image data, such as an image acquired usingthe camera device 48. The image processing application may employ one ormore OCR techniques, as briefly described above. For example, the imageprocessing application may be used to extract credit card informationfrom an acquired image of the credit card, or banking information froman acquired image of a check. These features and applications will bedescribed in further detail below.

The device 10 may further include one or more communication interfaces,illustrated in FIG. 3 by reference numeral 56, for providing additionalconnectivity channels for receiving and transmitting information. Forexample, communication interface 56 may represent one or more networkinterface cards (NIC) and/or a network controller as well as variousassociated communication protocols. The communication interface 56 mayinclude several types of communication interfaces, including but notlimited to, a wireless local area network (WLAN) interface 58, an NFCinterface 60, an unstructured supplementary service data (USSD)interface 62, a personal area network (PAN) interface 64, a local areanetwork (LAN) interface 66, a wide area network (WAN) interface 68, anda short message service (SMS) interface 70.

The PAN interface 64 may provide capabilities to network with, forexample, a Bluetooth® network, an IEEE 802.15.4 (e.g., ZigBee) network,or an ultra wideband network (UWB). As will be appreciated, the networksaccessible by the PAN interface 64 may, but do not necessarily,represent low power, low bandwidth, or close range wireless connections.The PAN interface 64 may permit one electronic device 10 to connect toanother local electronic device, such as a computer or portable mediaplayer, via an ad-hoc or peer-to-peer connection. However, theconnection may be disrupted if the physical distance between the twoelectronic devices exceeds the effective range of the PAN interface 64.

The LAN interface 66 and WLAN interface 58 may provide longer-rangecommunication channels, generally exceeding the range available via thePAN interface 64. The LAN interface 66 may represent, for example, aninterface to a wired Ethernet-based network providing a connection to anIntranet or the Internet, and the WLAN interface 58 may represent aninterface for connecting to a wireless LAN, such as an IEEE 802.11xwireless network. Additionally, in many cases, a connection between twoelectronic devices via the LAN interface 66 may involve communicationthrough one or more network routers, switches, gateways, or some otherintermediary device.

Connection to a wide area network (WAN) may be provided by way of theWAN interface 68. The WAN interface 68 may permit a private and/orsecure connection to a cellular data network, such as the Enhanced Datarates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) network or the 3G network (e.g., based onthe IMT-2000 standard). When connected via the WAN interface 68, theelectronic device 10 may remain connected to the Internet and, in someembodiments, to one or more additional electronic devices, despitechanges in location that might otherwise disrupt a connection throughthe PAN interface 64, LAN interface 66, or the WLAN interface 58.

In certain embodiments, the electronic device 10 may also include aservice discovery networking protocol to establish a connection with anexternal device through a network interface. For example, both thedevice 10 and the external device may broadcast identificationinformation using internet protocol standards (IP). In some embodiments,the external device may additionally broadcast information relating tothe available services the external device is capable of providing(e.g., printing services for a networked printer). The devices may thenuse the identification information to establish a network connection,such as a PAN connection or a WLAN connection, between the devices. Byway of example, a device identification protocol may be provided byBonjour®, developed by Apple Inc.

Small size communications may be sent using the USSD interface 62 andthe SMS interface 70. The SMS interface 70 may allow transmission oftext messages of 140 bytes or less. In certain embodiments, larger sizemessages may be sent using concatenated SMS. The USSD interface 62 mayfacilitate the transmission of real time text messages over GSMsignaling channels. By way of example, the USSD interface 62 may be usedto query for locations and addresses, movie showing times, stock quotes,or the like.

The device 10 may be further provided with close range communicationcapabilities by way of the NFC interface 60. The NFC interface 60 mayoperate in conjunction with the above-described NFC device 46 to providefor close range communications between the device 10 and an externaldevice. The NFC interface 60 may exist as a separate component, may beintegrated into another chipset, or may be integrated into the NFCdevice 46 itself, for example, as part of a system-on-chip (SoC)circuit. The NFC interface 60 may include one or more protocols, such asthe Near Field Communication Interface and Protocols (NFCIP-1), forcommunicating with another NFC-enabled device. The protocols may be usedto adapt the communication speed and to designate one of the connecteddevices as an initiating device that controls and/or initiates the NFCconnection. In certain embodiments, the NFC interface 60 may be used toreceive information, such as a service set identifier (SSID), channel,and/or encryption key that may be required to permit a connectionthrough another communication interface, such as the WLAN interface 58,the PAN interface 64, the LAN interface 66, or the WAN interface 68.

In certain embodiments, the NFC interface 60 may enable the electronicdevice 10 to communicate in a peer-to-peer mode for exchanging data,such as payment and crediting information, with another NFC-enableddevice in the context of carrying out or initiating the processing of afinancial transaction, as will be discussed in further detail below. TheNFC interface 60 also may be configured to switch the NFC device 46between a “host” or active mode in which the NFC device 46 generates itsown RF field, as well as a passive mode or “wake-on-NFC” mode in whichthe NFC device 46 may be induced into an active state for performing thetransfer or receiving of data upon detection of an RF field generated byanother device. As will be appreciated, operation of the NFC device 46and interface 60 in the passive mode may prolong the battery life of thedevice 10. In additional embodiments, the NFC device 46 may becontrolled based on user or manufacturer preferences, represented hereinby reference number 72, which may be pre-configured by a manufacturer orvendor, or subsequently configured by a user based on the user'spreferences. These preferences, whether pre-configured or laterconfigured, may be stored in the storage device 54.

In embodiments where the electronic device 10 is configured to providefor the initiation of peer-to-peer transactions, including financialtransactions, between an external device, as will be discussed infurther detail below, the preferences 72 may include a user-specifiedpreferred or default payment account or source, as well asuser-specified preferred or default crediting account. As used herein,the term “payment account” or the like shall be understood to refer toan account from which a payment is to be debited or charged.Additionally, the term “crediting account” or the like shall beunderstood to refer to an account from which a payment is to bedeposited or credited. Thus, a default payment account may be an accountthat is automatically selected for providing a payment when atransaction is initiated on the device 10. Similarly, a defaultcrediting account may be an account that is automatically selected forthe crediting or deposit of a received payment. The preferences 72 mayalso include a preferred e-mail address at which a user prefers toreceive electronic receipt records or confirmation messages with regardto payments made or received via operating the electronic device 10.

In certain embodiments, the preferences 72 may further determineproperties of the above-mentioned communication interfaces 56 (e.g.,including 58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, and 70). For instance, the preferences72 may include a list of networks that the device 10 may connect to andmay further govern the order or priority between the communicationinterfaces 56. By way of example, the device 10 may be configured tocommunicate through the NFC interface 60 if the communication is withregard to receiving payment information from or sending paymentinformation to an external device. Similarly, the device 10 may beconfigured to communicate through the WLAN 58 or LAN 66 interfaces ifthe communication is with regard to verifying received paymentinformation with an external and/or remote financial server, forexample. Still further, the device 10 may be configured to initiate ortake part in a group transaction, in which communication with aplurality of external devices is achieved through a combination of theprovided communication interfaces 56. For instance, in one embodiment,the device 10 may receive payment information from one or more of aplurality of external devices through the NFC interface 60, whilesimultaneously communicating an updated invoice or bill to each of theexternal devices through an ad-hoc network established through one ofthe WLAN 58, PAN 64, or LAN 66 interfaces.

As will be further appreciated, the communication preferences associatedwith the preferences 72 may be further dependent upon security features74 available for each respective communication interface 58, 60, 62, 64,66, 68, and 70. The security features 74 may be stored in the storagedevice 54 and may include one or more cryptographic protocols, such as asecure sockets layer (SSL) protocol or a transport layer security (TLS)protocol, for establishing secure communications between the device 10and an external device. The security features 74 may also include one ormore encryption applications for encrypting information sent from thedevice 10. These features may be particularly useful when transmittinginformation of a sensitive nature, such as payment and/or creditingaccount information, which may generally include credit card and bankaccount information, for example.

The security features 74 may also include a secure access-restrictedstorage area (e.g., within the storage device 54) to limit access to thedata that may be required by the certain aspects of the securityfeatures 74, such as encryption keys, passcodes and passwords, digitalcertificates, or the like. Additionally, the secure storage area may beadapted to store sensitive data, such as information pertaining to auser's financial accounts, including credit card accounts and bankingaccounts. The secure storage area may also store information regardingaccounts of a non-financial nature. As used herein, the term “non-cashaccount,” “non-financial account,” or the like shall be understood torefer to accounts which may contain non-monetary assets that maynevertheless be used as a medium of exchange with at least one party,such as the institution holding or maintaining the non-cash account. Toprovide one example, a non-financial or non-cash account may be a user'sonline music/media subscription or purchase account, such as an iTunes®account available through the iTunes® online digital media store,developed and operated by Apple Inc. An iTunes® account may include anumber of “credits” by which a user may redeem or exchange at theiTunes® online media store for media files, such as music files, moviefiles, audiobooks, podcasts, or the like. Thus, these non-cash accountsmay be stored alongside financial accounts (e.g., banking and creditcard accounts) within the secure storage area provided by the securityfeatures 74. In certain embodiments, the secure storage area may includea microcontroller embedded within the electronic device 10.Additionally, in some embodiments, the secure storage area, in additionto storing the above-mentioned sensitive data, may be further protectedby its own respective password or authorization “personal identificationnumber” (PIN), for example, in order to prevent unauthorized access tothe information stored therein.

In accordance with further embodiments, the security features 74 mayfurther allow a user to lock or temporarily disable all (e.g., lock onpower-up) or only certain functions on the device 10, such as thefunctionalities which may be provided by transaction application (e.g.,represented by the icon 34) described above. By way of example, whenlocked, the peer-to-peer transaction features briefly discussed abovemay be disabled or inaccessible by users until a user-specified PIN orpassword is provided. Further, the security features 74 may additionallyinclude requiring that the PIN be provided prior to the sending ortransmissions of payment account information to external devices. As canbe appreciated, the security features 74 described herein may aid toprevent the device 10 from being used to make payments by unauthorizedpersons.

As discussed above, the device 10 may also include the video controller76, which may be operatively coupled to the display 24 and configured toreceive image data and to send voltage signals corresponding to thepixel values of the image data to the display 24. The displayed imagedata may be representative of information received through thecommunication interface 56, as well as information contained in thestorage device 54. As will be understood by those skilled in the art,pixel values may be numerical assignments corresponding to respectivepixel intensities. Thus, the display 24 may receive the voltage signalsfrom the video controller 76 as an input and produce an imagecorresponding to the voltage signals. For instance, an image produced bythe signals provided by the video controller 76 may represent a screenof the GUI 28 described above with reference to FIG. 1.

As further noted above, a user operating the device 10 may selectvarious graphical elements which may represent applications orinformation that may be displayed through the GUI 28. As shown in FIG.3, a touch screen interface 78 may be positioned in front of or behindthe display 24 and may provide a user the ability to select graphicalelements, such as the icons 30 displayed by the GUI 28 described abovein FIG. 1. The touch screen interface 78 may be configured to receiveinputs based on a physical contact (e.g., touching the display 24)either by the user or an object (e.g., stylus) being controlled ormanipulated by the user, and to send “touch event” information to theCPU 50. The CPU 50 may then process the detected touch event informationand perform a corresponding action. For instance, referring briefly backto FIG. 1, the “touching” of the icon 34 may be processed by the CPU 50as an instruction to execute or initiate the corresponding transactionapplication. The touch screen interface 78 may employ any suitable typeof touch screen technology such as resistive, capacitive, infrared,surface acoustic wave, electromagnetic, or near field imaging.Furthermore, the touch screen interface 78 may employ single point ormultipoint sensing.

The I/O controller 80 depicted in FIG. 3 may provide an infrastructurefor allowing a user to communicate with the CPU 50 through various inputstructures provided on the device 10, such as the input structuresrepresented by the reference numerals 14, 16, 18, 20, and 22 in FIG. 1.The user input structures 14, 16, 18, 20, and 22 may be used inconjunction with, or independently of, the touch screen interface 76 toprovide input information to the device 10.

The power source 82 of the device 10 may include the capability to powerthe device 10 in both non-portable and portable settings. For example,in a portable setting, in order to facilitate transport and ease ofmotion, the device 10 may include an integrated power source 82 forpowering the device 10. The power source 82 may include one or morebatteries, such as a Li-Ion battery, which may be user-removable orsecured to the enclosure 12. In certain embodiments, the proprietaryconnection I/O port 36 may be used to connect the device 10 to a powersource for recharging the battery. In other embodiments, the one or morebatteries may be non-integrated and may include one or more rechargeableor replaceable batteries. Further, in a non-portable setting, the powersource 82 may include AC power, such as provided by an electricaloutlet.

As described above, the device 10 may include a transaction application(e.g., represented by icon 34) providing the device 10 the ability toinitiate and receive transactions (e.g., payments and credits) from anexternal device. Referring now to FIG. 4, a system, generally designatedby reference numeral 90, for conducting a peer-to-peer transactionbetween a first device 10 being operated by a “payee” and a seconddevice 92 operated by a “payor” is illustrated. The second device 92 maybe a portable device that is substantially identical to the first device10 or, in other embodiments, may be a non-portable device, such as adesktop computer or a payment terminal, for example. As used herein, theterm “payee” shall be understood to refer to one party in a transactionthat is receiving a payment, and the term “payor” shall be understood torefer to another party in the transaction that is making the payment.”Accordingly, the terms “payee device” and “payor device” shall beunderstood to refer to devices (e.g., the devices 10 and 92) beingoperated by a payee and a payor, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 4, the device 10 acts as the payee device of thetransaction, and the second device 92 acts as the payor device.Initially, the payee device 10 may transmit a payment request,illustrated herein by reference numeral 94, to the payor device 92. Thepayment request information 94 may include information relating to theamount of a payment being requested by the payee device 10. The paymentrequest information 94 may also include information indicating theidentity of the payee, which may include text data corresponding to thename of the payee, an e-mail address belonging to and/or identifying thepayee, or any other type of suitable identification information.Additionally, the payment request 94 may further include informationindicating the purpose of the payment request. For example, the paymentrequest 94 may be in response to a specific outstanding debt or balanceowed to the payee by the payor.

In one embodiment, the payee device 10 and the payor device 92 may bothbe NFC-enabled devices each having a respective NFC device 46 and NFCinterface 60, as described above. Initially, both the payee 10 and payor92 devices may be in a passive mode of operation. Just prior totransmitting the payment request 94 to the payor device 92, the NFCdevice 46 of the payee device 10 may be powered on, thus transitioningthe payee device 10 to an active mode in which an RF field is generatedby the NFC device 46 of the payee device 10. Thus, when the payee device10 and the payor device 92 are placed within a close enough proximity ordistance to facilitate the establishment of an NFC connection (e.g.,typically 2-4 cm), the RF field generated by the payee device 10 mayinduce the NFC device 46 of the payor device 92 to transition to anactive mode of operation, thus establishing an NFC connection betweenthe two devices, as discussed above. Accordingly, by way of thisestablished NFC connection, the payment request information 94 may betransmitted to and received by the payor device 92.

Upon receiving the payment request information 94 from the payee device10, the payor device 92 may display the received payment requestinformation 94 on a display, such as the display 24 described above.Thus, the payor may review the payment request information 94 foraccuracy and select a payment method to be used in providing therequested payment to the payor. The payment method may be, for example,a credit card account or a bank account belonging to payee. As discussedabove, account information pertaining to the selected payment accountmay be stored on the payor device 92, such as in a secure storage areawith the storage device 54 described above in FIG. 3. Thus, informationpertaining to the selected payment method (e.g., credit card or bankaccount) may be stored in and retrieved from the secured storage areafor transmission to the payee device 10 upon selection of a particularaccount by the payor.

Accordingly, once the desired payment account is selected, the paymentaccount information, represented here by reference numeral 96, may betransmitted to the payee device 10. For example, like the transmissionof the payment request information 94, the payment account information96 may similarly be transmitted from the payor device 92 to the payeedevice 10 by way of the previously established NFC connection througheach device's respective NFC interface 60, or by initiating a newseparate NFC connection session if the previous NFC connection hasalready terminated (e.g., the distance between the devices exceeds the2-4 cm range). In certain embodiments, the payee device 92 may alsoinclude security features 74 discussed above and may permit thetransmission of the payment information 96 only if a password, PIN, orsome other suitable form of authentication is first provided. Beforecontinuing, it should be noted that the NFC-based exchange of paymentinformation between the payee device 10 and the payor device 92 isprovided merely by way example. Indeed, in other embodiments, any typeof suitable communication interface, such as those described above withreference to the communication interface components 56 in FIG. 3, may beutilized.

Upon receiving the payment information 96 from the payor device 92, thepayee may view the payment information 96 on the display 24 of the payeedevice 10. Thereafter, the payee may select a desired crediting account,which may be stored on the payee device 10, to which the paymentrepresented by the payment account information 96 is to be credited ordeposited. Once the crediting account is selected on the payee device10, the requested payment amount, the payment account information 96,and the selected crediting account, collectively referred to as the“transaction information” and represented by reference numeral 98, maybe transmitted by the payee device 10 to one or more financial servers100 for verification of the account information and the subsequentauthorization and processing of the requested payment. As will beappreciated, communication with the financial servers 100 may beaccomplished through one or more of the communication interfacesdescribed above. For instance, if the payee device 10 is a portabledevice having WLAN or WAN capabilities, the payee device 10 maycommunicate with the financial servers 100 via a wireless connection. Ifthe device 10 is a non-portable device, then a LAN connection may beprovided for communication with the financial servers 100. Regardless ofthe type of connection established between the device 10 and thefinancial servers 100, it should be understood that one or more of thedata encryption techniques and security protocols (e.g., SSL or TSLprotocols) discussed above with regard to the security features 74 ofFIG. 3 may be further utilized in order to facilitate the securetransmission of the transaction data 98 to the financial servers 100.

As can be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the type or types offinancial servers 100 to which in the transaction data 98 is transmittedmay depend on the type of payment account selected by the payor and/orthe type of crediting account selected by the payee. For instance, ifthe payment account selected by the payor is a credit card account andif the crediting account specified on the payee device 10 is a bankaccount, then the financial servers 100 may include both a bank serveras well as a credit card verification server. By way of example, thetransaction information 98 may first be transmitted to a bank serverassociated with a banking institution at which the specified creditingaccount is held for verification of whether the specified creditingaccount is a valid account and capable of receiving a credit cardpayment. As will be understood, the receipt of credit card payments to abank account may constitute a special service that may requireenrollment, subscription, or additional payment of fees by the payee.Thus, if the crediting account is not authorized to receive paymentsmade using a credit card account, then the payee may be notified toselect a different crediting account.

If it is determined that the selected crediting account is authorized toreceive payments from a credit card account, then the transaction data98 may be further transmitted to a credit card verification server inthe form of an authorization request. The credit card verificationserver may be associated with a credit card company which maintains thepayor's selected credit card account, such as American Express® orMasterCard®. The credit card verification server may process thetransaction information 98 to determine whether a charge to the payor'scredit card account in the amount specified in the payment request maybe authorized. By way of example, the credit card verification servermay first verify whether the credit card account information provided inthe transaction information 98 corresponds to a valid credit cardaccount belonging to the specified payor. The credit card verificationserver may further determine whether the line of credit associated withthe credit card account is sufficient to satisfy the requested paymentamount. If the credit card verification server determines that thespecified credit card account is valid and is authorized to make therequested payment, then the credit card verification server mayauthorize a payment to the crediting account selected by the payee bycharging the payor's credit card. The credit card verification servermay then transmit an authorization message to the bank server indicatingthat the requested payment has been authorized and that the requestedpayment has been charged to the payor's credit card account and creditedor deposited to the payee's crediting account (e.g., bank account).

The above-discussed interactions between the credit card verificationserver and the bank server are intended to illustrate just one possiblescenario with regard to processing a transaction initiated by the payeedevice 10 or the payor device 92. Thus, it should be understood thatvarious other types of scenarios may exist in which one or more types offinancial servers are utilized for the processing of a peer-to-peertransaction in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.For instance, instead of a credit card verification server, atransaction may be processed by multiple bank servers in a scenario inwhich the specified crediting account and payment account are both bankaccounts held at different respective banking institutions. It should befurther understood that the communication between the various financialservers 100 described above may be provided by any suitablecommunication interface available on the payee device 10 and payordevice 92, such as a WAN 68, LAN 66, or WLAN interface 58 to name just afew, and may include one or more security protocols, such as SSL or TSL,as well as one or more data encryption techniques for protecting thesecurity and integrity of the transaction information 98.

As further illustrated in FIG. 4, once the transaction is processed, acompletion message 102 may transmitted to the payee device 10. Thecompletion message 102 may be received by the WAN, WLAN, LAN interfaces,as described above or, or in some embodiments may be transmitted throughe-mail or by way of an SMS text message (e.g., via the SMS interface70). The completion message 102 may indicate whether or not therequested transaction has been successfully processed. If thetransaction is successful, then the completion message 102 may include aconfirmation indicating to the payee that the requested payment 94 hasbeen credited to the specified crediting account. Alternatively, if thetransaction is unsuccessful for one or more reasons (e.g., the providedcredit card account lacks sufficient funds or credit), then thecompletion message 102 may indicate that the transaction wasunsuccessful and/or advise the payee to pursue an alternate method ofpayment.

In one embodiment, the payee device 10 may have multiple creditingaccounts stored thereon, and payee may specify, such as via the userpreferences 72, an order of priority with regard to the creditingaccounts. For instance, the selected crediting account may automaticallybe selected as the crediting account having the highest priorityranking. Thus, if the reason that the transaction is unsuccessful is dueto the currently selected crediting account (e.g., the account may notbe configured to receive credit card payments), the transactionapplication may be configured to automatically initiate a subsequenttransaction request to the financial servers 100 using the creditingaccount having the next highest priority setting. Additionally, thefinancial servers 100 or the payee device 10 may also transmit aconfirmation message in the form of an electronic receipt, representedherein by reference numeral 104, to the payor device 92 if thetransaction is processed successfully. The electronic receipt 104 mayserve as acknowledgment that the requested payment has been satisfied bythe payor and received by the payee.

While the one or more financial servers 100 in the examples providedabove refer to multiple servers (e.g., bank servers and credit cardverification servers), in certain scenarios, the one or more financialservers 100 may include a single financial server, such as in situationswhere the specified payment account and crediting account are held bythe same financial institution (e.g., the same bank). In this scenario,the transaction authorization process described above may be performedby a single server associated with the common financial institution.Thus, it should be understood that the phrase “single server” may referto more than one computing device in different locations, but that eachof the computing devices are owned, operated, or otherwise associatedwith the same financial institution. Additionally, the one or morefinancial servers 100 need not necessarily be limited to financialservers configured to manage monetary assets. For instance, where atransaction involves non-cash assets, such as credits stored in aniTunes® account, as discussed above, the financial servers 100 mayinclude a server managed by the iTunes® online server. Indeed, theseadditional embodiments with regard to the interactions of variousfinancial servers 100 are also envisioned within the scope of thepresent disclosure and will be described in further detail below.

Continuing with the present disclosure, FIGS. 5A-10B illustrate, by wayof a plurality of screen images, various methods and techniques forconfiguring the electronic device 10 for use with the above-describedtransaction application 34. The depicted screen images may be generatedby the GUI 28 and displayed on the display 24. For instance, thesescreen images may be generated as the user interacts with the device 10,such as via the input structures 14, 16, 18, 20, and 22, and/or thetouch screen interface 78. Specifically, these figures illustratetechniques and methods for storing payment account and crediting accountinformation into the device 10, as well as for configuring one or moreof the user preferences 72 and security features 74 described above withregard to FIG. 3, in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

As discussed above, the GUI 28, depending on the inputs and selectionsmade by a user, may display various screens including icons (e.g., 30)and graphical elements. These elements may represent graphical andvirtual elements or “buttons” which may be selected by the user byphysically touching their respective location on the display 24 usingthe touch screen interface 76, for example. Accordingly, it should beunderstood that the term “button,” “virtual button,” “graphical button,”“graphical elements,” or the like, as used in the following descriptionof screen images below, is meant to refer to the graphicalrepresentations of buttons or icons represented by the graphicalelements provided on the display 24. Further, it should also beunderstood that the functionalities set forth and described in thesubsequent figures may be achieved using a wide variety graphicalelements and visual schemes. Therefore, the present disclosure is notintended to be limited to the precise user interface conventionsdepicted herein. Rather, embodiments of the present disclosure mayinclude a wide variety of user interface styles.

Referring first to FIGS. 5A and 5B, these figures collectivelyillustrate screen images that may be displayed on the device 10 wheninformation representing a credit card account is entered and storedinto the device 10 by a user. The stored credit card information maythen be used as a payment account in conjunction with the transactionapplication described above. As shown in FIG. 5A, a user may initiatethe transaction application by selecting the icon 34 displayed on thehome screen 29 of the device 10. Upon selection of the icon 34, thetransaction application may be initiated, such as via the CPU 50, andthe user may be advanced to the screen 110, which may represent a “home”or “main” screen for the transaction application.

The screen 110 may include a plurality of graphical elements,represented by the reference numerals 112, 114, and 116. Each of thegraphical elements 112, 114, and 116 may be displayed in the form of abutton or key, and may include a brief description of a correspondingfunction or action associated therewith. For instance, the graphicalbutton 112 may represent a function by which a user may view and modifyaccount information stored on the device 10. The graphical button 114may represent a function by which the user may initiate a peer-to-peertransaction, such as the transaction described above in FIG. 4. Further,the graphical button 116 may represent a function by which the user mayview and modify a variety of user preferences, such as the userpreferences 72 described above with reference to FIG. 3. Thefunctionalities provided by the graphical button 116 may also allow theuser to modify or access one or more of the security features 74discussed above.

The present discussion will initially begin with a description of thefunctionalities provided by the graphical button 112. However, it shouldbe kept in mind that the additional functionalities provided by thegraphical buttons 114 and 116 will be discussed in further detail below.Additionally, as shown in FIG. 5A, the screen 110 may include thegraphical button 118. The graphical button 118 may represent an actionreturning a user to a previous screen. For instance, if the user were toselect the button 118 displayed on the screen 110 in FIG. 5A, the userwould be returned to the home screen 29.

In order to enter and store a new credit card account into the device10, the user may select the graphical button 112 to access the screen120, which may display a listing of all accounts presently stored on thedevice 10. As illustrated by the screen 120, the presently storedaccounts may be organized and displayed in accordance with certaincategories. For instance, the account information screen 120 may displaya first listing 122 of presently stored credit card accounts, a secondlisting 124 of presently stored banking accounts, a third listing 126 ofpresently stored non-cash accounts, as well as additional listings 128of other accounts, which may include charge cards or loyalty cardsassociated with a specific vendor or retailer. Additionally, the accountinformation screen 120 may include additional graphical elementsrepresenting the functions of adding additional accounts to or removingexisting accounts from the device 10, as represented by the graphicalbuttons 130 and 132, respectively. Thus, to add a new account to thedevice 10, the user may select the graphical button 130. Further, if theuser desires to remove a previously stored account displayed on one ormore of the listings 122, 124, 126, or 128, the user may do so byselecting the graphical button 132.

As shown in FIG. 5A, upon selecting the graphical button 130, the usermay be advanced to the screen 134. The screen 134 may include aplurality of graphical buttons 136, 138, 140, 142, and 144, each ofwhich may represent categories of various types of accounts which may bestored onto the device 10. By way of example, the user may initiate theprocess of entering and storing a new credit card account by selectingthe graphical button 136. This selection may advance the user to thescreen 146. It should be understood, however, that if the user maychooses to select any of the other graphical buttons 138, 140, 142, or144, for the entering of different account types, and that the selectionof any of these other graphical buttons will advance the user to arespective appropriate screen.

Referring now to the screen 146, several drop-down style selectionfields, illustrated by reference numerals 148, 150, 152, and 154 may bedisplayed. For instance, the drop-down selection field 148 may provide alisting of credit card brands corresponding to various credit cardproviders, upon which the user may make an appropriate selection basedupon the particular credit card which the user desires to store in thedevice 10. Additionally, the drop-down fields 150 and 152 may providethe user with a selection of the month and year, respectively,corresponding to the expiration date associated with the new credit cardaccount. As will be appreciated, the drop-down fields, when actuated orselected by a user, the drop-down fields may display a list of availableoptions that may be selected to populate the respective drop-down field.For instance, referring to the drop-down field 154, which may representthe selection of a category corresponding to the type of credit cardaccount being entered, the user may select a category from a listing ofavailable categories generally describing various credit card accounttypes. By way of example, the credit card may be generally used withregard to gas purchases, airline or travel purchases, or may be ageneral use card for a variety of purchases.

In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, one or morebusiness methods may be provided in which agreements with one or morecredit card providers may be reached in which the manufacturer of thedevice 10 may pre-configure the device 10 such that a particular creditcard brand may be initially selected as a default selection. Forinstance, as shown in FIG. 5A, the drop-down field 148 may initiallydisplay the default credit card brand associated with a particularcredit card provider (e.g., American Express®). Thus, if a usercontinues through the process depicted in FIGS. 5A and 5B and completesthe steps of adding a credit card type of the default selection to thedevice 10, the manufacturer of the device 10 and the credit cardprovider may enter into an agreement in which the manufacturer of thedevice 10 receives a commission or fee each time a credit card accountmaintained by that credit card provider is stored onto a device soldand/or manufactured by the manufacturer. Additionally, the manufacturerof the device 10 may also reach an agreement with the credit cardprovider such that the manufacturer of the device 10 may receive apercentage of the credit card transaction fee paid to the credit cardprovider if the credit card transaction is performed using the device10.

Continuing now with the description of FIG. 5A, the screen 146 may alsofurther include several text fields, as depicted herein by the referencenumerals 156 and 158. The field 156 may allow the user to enter theaccount number corresponding to the new credit card account.Additionally, the form field 158 may be provided to allow the user toenter a card verification value (CVV) code corresponding to the selectedcredit card. As will be appreciated, CVV codes are generally printed onthe front or back of a credit card, and may also be encoded on themagnetic stripe on the credit card, and may serve as an additionalsecurity feature in credit card transactions, thus providing increasedprotection against credit card fraud. In an alternate embodiment, theCVV code may not be required when entering a new account and, instead,may be required by the device 10 each time the newly added credit cardaccount is used in a transaction.

In order to input data into the fields 156 and 158, the screen 146 mayinclude a graphical text input keyboard interface 160. The text inputkeyboard interface 160 may include a plurality of graphical buttonsrepresenting letters of the alphabet, for example, as well as buttonsrepresenting the standard “spacebar” and “backspace” functions on akeyboard. Accordingly, the user may use the text keyboard interface 160to input text data into any text fields that may be displayed on thedisplay 24 of the device 10. The text input keyboard 160 may alsoinclude a graphical button 162 that may allow the user to toggle betweenthe text input keyboard 160 and a numerical keyboard 164. As shown inFIG. 5A, the numerical keyboard 164 may include a plurality of buttonsrepresenting the numbers 0-9, as well as several commonly usedpunctuation marks. The numerical keyboard 164 may also include thegraphical button 166 by which the user may select to return to the textkeyboard 160. By way of example, the user may switch from the textkeyboard 160 to the numerical keyboard 164 in order to input the creditcard account number and the CVV code into the form fields 156 and 158.Additionally, if the need arises to return to the text keyboard 160, theuser may do so by selecting the graphical button 166 on the numericalkeyboard 164. In additional embodiments, the numerical and text inputfeatures may be integrated into a single graphical keyboard interface.

Once all the credit card information required by the drop-down fields148, 150, 152, and 154, and the text fields 156 and 158 has beenprovided by the user, the user may select the graphical button 168 tobegin a credit card verification process. This verification process maygenerally serve the purpose of verifying that the user performing thesteps of entering the credit card account into the device 10 is eitherthe credit card account holder or an authorized user. For instance,during the verification process, the credit card information entered inthe screen 146 may be transmitted to the corresponding credit cardprovider. As discussed above, the transmission of the credit cardinformation may be accomplished through one or more of theabove-described communication interfaces and be protected by one or moreof the above-described encryption and security methods.

Referring now to FIG. 5B, once the credit card provider has verifiedthat the credit card information provided by the device 10 is valid, thecredit card provider may confirm the identify of the user bytransmitting one or more verification codes to the device 10. Forinstance, referring to the screen 170, a notification message 172 may bedisplayed informing the user that a verification code for activating thecredit card to be used on the device 10 has been provided, such as bye-mail, for example. As will be appreciated, the e-mail address to whichthe verification code is sent may be the e-mail address associated withthe credit card account and contained in records maintained by thecredit card provider. Thus, this ensures that only the authorized useror users will receive the verification code. Accordingly, the creditcard verification screen 170 may include a graphical button 144, whichmay execute an e-mail program through which the user may retrieve e-mailmessages to obtain the verification code.

Additionally, by selecting the graphical button 178, the user may returnto the screen 120, which may be updated to include the new credit cardaccount 180 entered by the user via the screen 146, as discussed above.The screen 120, at this point in the process, may indicate that thenewly entered credit card account 180 may not be used to make paymentsfrom the device 10 until an authorization or activation action, such asproviding the above-described verification code, is performed. Once theuser has obtained the e-mailed verification code discussed above withreference to the screen 170, the user may proceed to the screen 184 toenter the verification code, and thus activate the credit card account180 for use on the device 10. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 5B,the user may select the location of the new credit card account 180 onthe screen 120 to proceed to the screen 184.

As illustrated in the screen 184, the user may be provided with a textfield 186 for entering the e-mail verification code described above. Theverification code may be entered using the text input keyboard 160and/or the numerical keyboard 164, which may be accessed by selectingthe graphical button 162. Once the e-mail verification code is entered,the user may select the graphical button 188, thereby completing theverification process and returning the user to the screen 120. If theverification code provided by the user in the text field 186 matches theverification code provided by the credit card provider, as discussedabove, newly entered credit card account 180 will be authorized andready for use in conjunction with the transaction application 34, asshown in the final updated screen 120 of FIG. 5B.

In the event that the e-mail verification code is not received for somereason, the user may alternatively provide a phone verification code inthe text field 190 to activate the credit card account 180. Forinstance, referring back to the screen 170, a telephone confirmationcode 176 is also provided in the notification message 172. In oneembodiment, in order to obtain the phone verification code, the usermust provide the telephone confirmation code 176 to the credit cardprovider, such by way of a telephone call, in order to receive acorresponding telephone verification code which may differ from thee-mail verification code, but will permit the use of the newly enteredcredit card 180 by the transaction application 34 if correctly entered.Thus, the user may enter the telephone verification code into the textfield 190 and select the graphical button 192 as an alternate method forauthorizing the newly entered credit card account 180 for use with thetransaction application 34.

Continuing now to FIGS. 6A and 6B, these figures depict, by way ofscreen images, a method for entering and storing a bank account onto theelectronic device 10. As will be appreciated, several aspects of theprocess illustrated by FIGS. 6A and 6B may be similar, if not identical,to the steps discussed above with reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B.Beginning with FIG. 6A, a user may select the graphical button 112 onthe screen 110 to access the screen 120 which as discussed above, maydisplay a listing of all accounts presently stored on the device. Asillustrated in FIG. 6A, the credit card account 180 that was entered bythe user in FIGS. 5A and 5B is included in the listing 122 of storedcredit card accounts.

Next, the user may select the graphical button 130 on the screen 120 toadvance to the screen 134. As discussed above, the screen 134 maydisplay the graphical buttons 136, 138, 140, 142, and 144, each of whichmay represent categories of various types of accounts which may bestored onto the device 10. Accordingly, to enter and store a new bankaccount, the user may select the graphical button 140 to proceed to thescreen 198. As shown in FIG. 6A, the screen 198 may be similar to thescreen 146 discussed above in that a plurality of drop-down fields(e.g., 200, 202) and text fields (e.g., 204, 206) may be provided. Byway of these fields, the user may enter the required bank accountinformation onto the device 10. For instance, the drop-down fields 200may allow the user to select the identity of the banking providerassociated with the new bank account. The drop-down field 202 may alsoprovide for the selection of the type of banking account being storedwhich may be, for example, a checking account, a savings account, amoney market account, and so forth. Further, the text fields 204 and 206may allow the user to enter a routing number for the banking providerand the account number associated with the bank account, respectively.The text keyboard 160 may be provided on the screen 198 for entry ofdata into the fields 204 and 206. Additionally, as discussed above, anumerical keyboard 164 may be accessed via selection of the graphicalbutton 162 when the input of numerical data, such as the above-mentionedrouting and bank account numbers, is required.

Once the required bank account information is entered into the drop-downfields 200 and 202 and the text fields 204 and 206, the user may selectthe graphical button 208 to initiate the process of verifying andauthorizing the entered bank account for use with the transactionapplication 34 on the device 10. As can be appreciated, certain aspectsof the verification process with respect to the entered bank account maybe similar to the credit card verification process described above withrespect to FIG. 5B. For instance, during the verification process, thebank account information entered in the screen 198 may be transmitted tobanking provider selected in the drop-down field 200. As discussedabove, the transmission of the bank account information may beaccomplished through one or more of the above-described communicationinterfaces (e.g., the interfaces 58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, and 70) and beprotected by one or more of the above-described encryption and securitymethods.

Continuing now to FIG. 6B, once the banking provider has verified thatthe bank account information transmitted by the device 10 represents avalid bank account, the banking provider may confirm the identify of theuser using any suitable type of authentication technique. For example,in the illustrated embodiment, the banking provider may initiate one ormore verification deposits into the bank account. As will be appreciatedby those skilled in the art, verification deposits are usuallyrelatively small amounts (e.g., less then $1.00 USD) and may be used toconfirm the identity of the account holder. For instance, the bankingprovider may require that the account holder provide the exact values ofthe verification deposit amounts before the newly entered bank accountmay be authorized for use with the transaction application 34. By way ofexample, referring now to the screen 210 in FIG. 6B, once the bankingprovider has verified the validity of the bank account entered in thescreen 198, the notification message 212 may be displayed. In theillustrated embodiment, the notification message 212 may inform the userthat two verification deposits have been credited to the newly enteredbank account, although it should be understood that any number ofverification deposits may be used in the confirmation process.

The user may select the graphical button 214 to return to the screen120, in which the listing 124 may be updated to include the newlyentered bank account, as indicated by the reference numeral 216. Likethe screen 120 depicted in FIG. 5B, the screen 120 of FIG. 6B mayindicate that the new bank account 216 may not be used to make paymentsusing the device 10 until the above-discussed verification depositamounts have been confirmed with the banking provider. Accordingly, theuser may be required to determine the amounts of the verificationdeposits, such as by viewing a banking statement issued subsequent todeposit of the verification amounts, for example.

After determining the verification deposit amounts, the user may accessthe screen 218 by selecting the location of the new bank account 216 onthe screen 120. As shown in FIG. 6B, the screen 218 may display the textfields 220 and 222, by which the user may enter the amounts of the twoverification deposits. Additionally, the screen 218 may include thenumerical keyboard 164 by which the user may input the verificationdeposit amounts into the fields 220 and 222. Once the verificationdeposit amounts have been entered, the user may complete theconfirmation process by selecting the graphical button 224 and returningto the screen 120. As shown in FIG. 6B, if the deposit amounts enteredby the user in the screen 218 match the verification amounts depositedby the banking provider, then the newly entered bank account 216 will beauthorized and ready for use in conjunction with the transactionapplication 34, as shown in the final updated screen 120 of FIG. 6B. Aswill be discussed in further detail below, a bank account stored on thedevice 10 (or the device 92) may be used as both a crediting account anda payment account depending on whether the device 10 is assuming therole of the payee device or the payor device.

Continuing now to FIGS. 7-10B, the device 10, as discussed above, mayinclude one or more preference settings, such as those represented byreference numeral 72 in FIG. 3, which may either be pre-configured bythe manufacturer or later configured by the user. By way of example, thepreference settings 72 may include the selection of a default paymentaccount, a default crediting account, as well as additional settings,such as the selection and storing of an authorization PIN number forsecurity purposes. Thus, the screen images illustrated in FIGS. 7-10Bare intended to illustrate, by way of example, techniques by which theuser may operate the device 10 to configure the aforementionedpreference settings.

Referring first to FIG. 7, the selection of a default payment accountmay initially begin from the screen 110. There, the user may select thegraphical button 116 to access the screen 230, which may display thepresent configuration of one or more user preferences on the device 10.In the illustrated embodiment, the user preference settings displayed onthe screen 230 may include a presently selected default payment account232 and a presently selected default crediting account 234. The screen230 may also include the graphical buttons 236 and 238, which may bedisplayed next to the default accounts 232 and 234, respectively, andmay allow the user to modify or change the default account settings ifselected.

As will be discussed in further detail, the screen of 230 mayadditionally display various other preference settings, such asuser-entered e-mail address 240 which may identify the user of thedevice 10 and which may also be used by the transaction application 34for receiving payment receipts, for example. As shown in FIG. 7, theuser may update the e-mail address setting 240 via selecting thegraphical button 242. The screen 230 may further include the graphicalbutton 244, by which the user may select to input and store anauthorization PIN code, as well as indicate a permission status withregard to the transaction application 34. For instance, as indicated byreference numeral 246, the transaction application 34 may be in an“unlocked” mode, and may thus be used by the user to perform thetransactions generally described above. For security purposes, the usermay toggle this permission setting 246 between an unlocked and a lockedmode, such as via selecting the graphical button 248, whereby thetransaction application 34 may be disabled when in the locked mode. Aswill be appreciated, when the transaction application 34 is locked, theuser may be unable to send or receive payments using the device 10. Incertain embodiments, the transaction application 34 may only be unlockedupon providing an authorization PIN, as will be explained in furtherdetail below.

Referring back to the default payment account 232 setting, the user mayupdate this preference setting by selecting the graphical button 236,which may advance the user to the screen 258. The screen 258 may displaya listing of all accounts presently stored on the device that may beselected as a payment account. In the illustrated embodiment, thelisting of accounts may be organized into the categories designated byreference numerals 260, 262, and 264. As can be appreciated, this may besimilar to the listing of the accounts described on the screen 120 withreference to 5A. The listing 260 may correspond to a listing of creditcard accounts presently stored on the device 10. As shown in the listing260, the credit card account 232 that was displayed on the previousscreen 230 may be indicated as being the presently selected defaultpayment account. Here, the user may have the option of selecting one ofthe other listed accounts as the default payment account. Additionally,the user may select the graphical button 266 if the user does not wishto configure a default payment account setting. For example, byselecting the graphical button 266, the transaction application 34 mayprompt the user to select a payment account each time a payment is beingmade using the device 10.

In the present embodiment, the user may select the credit card account180 that was entered in FIGS. 5A and 5B. For instance, the user mayselect the credit card account 180 by selecting its general location onthe screen 258. Thereafter, the previously selected default paymentaccount (e.g., credit card account 232) may be deselected, and thecredit card account 180 may be indicated on the screen 258 as thepresently selected default payment account. Next, the user may selectthe graphical button 118 to return to the screen 230, which may beupdated to display the credit card account 180 as the newly selecteddefault payment account.

Continuing now to FIG. 8, this figure shows additional screen images inwhich the user may select a default crediting account. As illustrated,the user may select the graphical button 238 on the screen 230 to accessthe screen 270. The screen 270 may display a listing of all accountspresently stored on the device that may be selected as a creditingaccount. For instance, the screen 270 may display the listing 262 ofbank accounts and the listing 264 of non-cash accounts. However, thescreen 270 may omit the listing 260 of credit card accounts discussedabove with reference to the screen 258 of FIG. 7, since credit cardaccounts are not generally used as a medium to accept payment credits ordeposits.

As shown in the listing 262, the bank account 234 that was displayed onthe previous screen 230 may be indicated as being the presently selecteddefault crediting account. Accordingly, the user may have the option ofselecting one of the other listed accounts on the screen 230 as adefault crediting account. By way of example, the user may select thebank account 216 that was entered in FIGS. 6A and 6B. For instance, theuser may select the bank account 216 by selecting its general locationon the screen 270. Thereafter, the previously selected default creditingaccount 234 may be deselected, and the bank account 216 may be indicatedon the screen 270 as being the presently selected default creditingaccount. Next, the user may select the graphical button 118 to return tothe screen 230, which may be updated to display the bank account 216 asthe newly selected default payment account. Additionally, as discussedabove, the user may select the graphical button 266 if the user does notwish to configure a default crediting account setting and, instead,prefers to be prompted to select a crediting account each time a paymentis received via the device 10.

Once the default payment account (e.g., credit card account 180) and thedefault crediting account (e.g., bank account 216) have been configuredby the user in the manner described above with reference to FIGS. 7 and8, the user may continue to configure additional preference settingsfrom the screen 230. For example, referring now to FIG. 9, a pluralityof screen images depicting a method for selecting an authorization PINis illustrated. Beginning with the screen 230, the user may select thegraphical button 244 to access the screen 280. The screen 280 mayinclude an instructional message 282 generally instructing the user toselect a desired authorization PIN having a certain number ofcharacters. For instance, in the illustrated embodiment, the device 10may be configured to store a four digit PIN. However, it should beappreciated that other implementations may utilize authorization PINs ofany desired length.

As illustrated in the screen 280, the user may enter the desired PIN 286into a text field 284 by way of the numerical keyboard 164.Additionally, in embodiments where the device 10 may support PIN codeshaving both text and numerical characters, the user may access the textkeyboard 160 (not shown in FIG. 9) by selecting the graphical button166, as discussed above. Once the desired PIN 286 has been entered, theuser may confirm the entered PIN 286 by selecting the graphical button288, which may update the screen 280 to display a confirmation message290 instructing the user to re-enter the selected PIN 286 into theconfirmation text field 292. Thus, the user may re-enter the selectedPIN 286 into the text field 292 by way of the numerical keyboard 164.

Once the PIN 286 has been entered into the text field 292, the user maycomplete the authorization PIN selection process by selecting thegraphical button 294. As will be understood by those skilled in the art,upon the selection of the graphical button 294, the device 10 maydetermine whether the authorization PIN codes entered into the textfields 284 and 292 are identical. If the PINs entered into the textfields 284 and 292 do not match, either due to an erroneous user inputor for any other reason, then the user may be notified of the mismatch(not shown in FIG. 9) and may be required to re-enter the PIN 286 intoeach of the text fields 284 and 292 once again. If the entered PINs aredetermined to be identical, then the PIN 286 may be stored on the device10 for use as an authorization PIN code to provide additional securityfeatures with regard to various aspects of the transaction application34, as will be discussed in further detail below. Thereafter, once theauthorization PIN 286 is confirmed and stored into the device 10, theuser may be returned to an updated screen 230 in which the graphicalbutton 244 is replaced with the graphical button 298 corresponding to afunction by which the user may edit or modify the presently storedauthorization PIN code 286.

In addition to providing the user with the function of selecting andstoring the authorization PIN code 286, the user preference settings forthe device 10 may additionally provide a function that locks or disablesthe transaction application 34, thus preventing the device fromreceiving, sending, or processing transaction requests while thetransaction application 34 is locked. For example, once locked by theuser, the transaction application 34, in one embodiment, may remain inthe locked or disabled state until the authorization PIN 286 that wasstored by the user in FIG. 9, is entered. These techniques with regardto the locking and subsequent unlocking of the transaction applicationmay be better understood with reference to FIGS. 10A and 10B.

Referring first to FIG. 10A, the screen 230, as discussed above, maydisplay an indication of the current status of the permission setting246 for the transaction application 34, which may presently indicate thetransaction application 34 is in an unlocked state. In order to lock thetransaction application 34, the user may select the graphical button 248to access the screen 304. As shown in the screen 304, a notificationmessage 306 may be displayed generally informing the user that thedevice 10 will be unable to receive or send transaction requests if thetransaction application 34 is locked. If the user chooses to lock thetransaction application 34, the user may do so by selecting thegraphical button 308 on the screen 304. As shown in FIG. 10A, theselection of the graphical button 308 will lock the transactionapplication 34 and return the user to the screen 230, which may beupdated to indicate that the permission setting 246 is presently in alocked state. It should be noted that the graphical button 248 may bereplaced on the updated screen 230 with the graphical button 312 which,when subsequently selected, may represent a function allowing the userto unlock the transaction application 34. Additionally, if at the screen304, the user decides not to lock the transaction application 34, theuser may select the graphical button 310, thus returning to the previousscreen 230 where the permission setting 246 for the transactionapplication is indicated as being unlocked.

Continuing now to FIG. 10B, if the user chooses to lock the transactionapplication 34 in FIG. 10A, the user may select the graphical button 312on the screen 230. Upon the selection of the graphical button 312, theuser may be advanced to the screen 318, which may display thenotification message 320, the field 322, and the graphical button 324.The notification message 320 may instruct the user to enter theauthorization PIN 268 selected in FIG. 9. As shown here, the numericalkeyboard 164 may be provided for entry of the authorization PIN 268 intothe text field 322. Once the authorization PIN 268 has been entered, theuser may confirm the unlock request by selecting the graphical button324, which may return the user to the screen 230, wherein the permissionsetting 246 is updated to reflect that the transaction application 34 isonce again in an unlocked state, thus re-enabling the functions ofreceiving and sending transaction requests using the device 10.Additionally, it should be noted that the graphical button 312 may bereplaced with the graphical button 248, described above.

Having described the configuration of various aspects relating to thetransaction application 34 that may be executed on the device 10, FIG.11A illustrates a method for initiating and subsequently processing atransaction from the viewpoint of a payee, generally designated by thereference numeral 328. Similarly, FIG. 11B illustrates a method 360describing the receipt of a transaction request and the subsequentaction of making a payment in response to the transaction request fromthe viewpoint of a payor. It should be understood that the methods 328and 360, in some situations, may occur at least partially concurrently.

Beginning with FIG. 11A, the method 328 may begin with the determinationof an invoice at step 332. As will be understood, the term “invoice” mayrefer to the general terms of a payment request, which may include theamount of the requested payment, the identity of the requesting payee,as well as additional information describing the nature or reasons as towhy the payment is being requested. Once the terms of the invoice aredetermined at step 332, the invoice information may be transmitted tothe payor, as indicated by step 334. By way of example, the transmissionof the invoice information described in the method 328 may be correspondto the communication of the payment request information 94 from thepayee device 10 to the payor device 92, as discussed above withreference to FIG. 4.

Thereafter, the payee may await the transmission of informationrepresenting a payment account from the payor, as indicated by step 336.As discussed above, the receipt payment information from the payor mayindicate an acknowledgement and acceptance of the requested payment fromstep 334. Upon receiving the payment information from the payor, thepayee, at step 338, may select a crediting account on the device 10 towhich the payee wishes the requested payment to be credited ordeposited. For instance, as discussed above, the crediting account maybe automatically selected as user-specified default crediting account216, as described above with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B, and/or may bemanually selected by the user.

Next, the payment request information determined at step 332, thepayment information received from the payor at step 336, and theselected crediting account from step 338, which may altogether bereferred as the “transaction information,” may be transmitted to one ormore appropriate financial servers 100 for the validation and processingof the requested transaction. For instance, as noted above, the types offinancial servers 100 to which the transaction information may betransmitted may depend on the types of payment and crediting accountsselected by the payor and the payee, respectively.

The transaction information may be processed at decision step 340 todetermine whether the requested transaction may be authorized. If it isdetermined at step 340 that the financial servers 100 are unable toauthorize one or more of the payment account or the crediting accountfor carrying out the requested transaction, then the method 328 mayproceed to the decision step 342, whereby the payee may be prompted torenegotiate the terms of the present transaction. By way of example, ifthe payee wishes to renegotiate the terms of the transaction, the payeemay either return to step 336 to receive an alternate payment accountfrom the payor, or may return to step 338 to select an alternatecrediting account. As will be appreciated, the decision as to whether toreturn to step 336 or 338 may depend on the reason or reasons as to whythe transaction information could not be verified or authorized at thedecision step 340. For instance, if the authorization process failed dueto insufficient funds or credit with regard to the payment accountreceived at step 336, then the payee may request that the payor providean alternate payment account having the sufficient funds, credit, orotherwise, to satisfy the requested payment amount. In this scenario,the method 328 may proceed from the decision step 342 back to the step336.

Alternatively, the situation may arise in which the authorizationfailure at decision step 340 is due to an incompatibility between thepayment account and the crediting account. By way of example, this typeof transaction failure may occur where the selected payment account is acredit card account and the selected crediting account is a bank accountthat is not authorized or configured to receive payments made from acredit card account. Thus, the method may either return to step 338 fromdecision step 342 in which the payee may be prompted to select analternate crediting account that is authorized to accept payments fromthe selected payment account, or return to step 336 whereby the payeemay request that the payor select an alternate payment account, such asa bank account, that is compatible with the payee's selected creditingaccount. Alternatively, the payee may choose to not to renegotiate theterms of the transaction at step 342, and thus cancel the presenttransaction at step 344.

Returning now to decision step 340, if it is determined that therequested transaction may be authorized with respect to the payment andcrediting accounts, then, at step 346, a payment corresponding to therequested payment amount may be credited or deposited to the creditingaccount selected at step 338, as indicated by reference numeral. Oncethe payment has been received by the payee at step 346, the transactionmay be completed at step 348. Thereafter, at step 350, a payment receiptmay be transmitted to the payor by the payee, either directly via thepayor device 10, or indirectly via one of the financial servers 100under the payee's authorization. For example, the payee may authorizethat an electronic receipt, such as the receipt 104 of FIG. 4, istransmitted from one or more financial servers 100 to the payor's device92 upon successful completion of the transaction.

Continuing now to FIG. 11B, the transaction generally described in FIG.11A from the payee's point of view is now described form the payor'spoint of view by way of the method 360. Beginning with step 364, thepayor may receive a payment request from the payee. For example, thereceipt of the payment request at step 364 may correspond to thetransmission of the invoice information at step 334 of the method 328.Upon receipt of the payment request, the method 360 may proceed to step366, wherein the payor may select a payment account from one or more ofthe available payment accounts stored on the payor device 92. As withthe description of the selection of a default payment account 180 on thedevice 10 in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the payor device may incorporate similarfeatures. Once the payment account is selected, the method may continueto step 366 in which the selected payment account is transmitted to thepayee. As discussed above, in one embodiment, the transmission of thepayment request and payment account information may be accomplished byway of an NFC connection between a payee device 10 and a payor device92. Once the payee receives the information representing the payor'sselected payment account, the payee may select a crediting account(e.g., step 338 of the method 328) and provide the transactioninformation to the one or more financial servers 100 for processing.

At decision step 368, a determination is made as to whether thetransaction is successfully completed. If the transaction did notcomplete, such as for one or more of the above-discussed reasons, thepayor's account will not be charged, as indicated at step 370.Alternatively, if it is determined at decision step 368 that thetransaction is authorized by the financial servers and successfullycompleted, then the crediting account specified by the payor will bedebited or charged for the requested payment amount at step 372.Thereafter, the payor may receive a receipt as shown by step 374,indicating that a payment has been made from the crediting account tothe payee. For example, the receipt received at step 374 of the method360 may correspond to the receipt transmitted at step 350 of the method328, described above.

Continuing now with the present discussion, FIGS. 12A-12C illustrateschematic diagrams representing various transactions that may beperformed between a payee device 10 and payor device 92 in accordancewith the presently described techniques. In general, the embodimentsillustrated by FIGS. 12A-C, depict several scenarios in which atransaction may be initiated between two NFC-enabled devices by way ofan NFC tap operation, as will be explained in further detail below. Forinstance, FIG. 12A illustrates an in which a payment is made by way of acredit card account stored on the payor device 92 in response to apayment request provided by a payee device 10. FIGS. 12B and 12Cillustrate additional embodiments in which a bank account is selected bythe payor as the payment account. Specifically, FIG. 12B illustrates ascenario in which the selected payment and crediting accounts aremaintained by different banking providers, and FIG. 12C illustrates ascenario in which the selected payment and crediting accounts aremaintained by the same banking provider.

Beginning with FIG. 12A, the transaction 375 may include the payeedevice 10, the payor device 92, as well as the one or more financialservers 100 which, in the present embodiment, may include a bank server380 and a credit card verification server 382. To initiate thetransaction 375, the payee device 10 may first transmit a paymentrequest 384 to the payor device 92. As discussed above, the paymentrequest 384 may include the amount of the requested payment, theidentity of the payee, as well as additional information with regard tothe nature or reason for the payment request. As noted above, the payeedevice 10 and they payor device 92 may both be NFC-enabled devices.Accordingly, the payment request information 384 may be transmitted fromthe payee device 10 to the payor device 92 through the establishment ofan NFC connection 388 by way of “tapping” the devices, or performing a“tap operation,” as depicted by reference numeral 386.

As used herein, the term “tap” and “tap operation,” or the like shall beunderstood to mean the action of placing one NFC-enabled device withinthe proximity of one or more additional NFC-enabled devices such that anNFC-based connection may be established between the devices. Asdiscussed above, one technique for establishing an NFC-based connectionmay be through magnetic field induction, whereby a first NFC-enableddevice acting as a host device generates an RF field, which in turninduces an NFC device located within a second device to transition froma passive state to an active state, thus establishing an NFC connection.Once established, information may be exchanged between the devices byway of the NFC connection.

Referring briefly to FIG. 13, a schematic diagram of the NFC tapoperation 386 is illustrated. For instance, prior to the initiation ofthe NFC connection 388, the payor device 92 may be in a passive or a“wake on NFC” mode, as denoted by reference numeral 390. While in thepassive state, an NFC device 46 and an NFC interface 60 that may beincluded in the device 92 may remain inactive until the NFC interface 60detects an NFC transmission from an external device, such as the payeedevice 10. By way of example, once the payee device 10 is operated totransmit the payment request 384, the NFC interface 60 and correspondingNFC device 46 located within the payee device 10 may transition to anactive or host mode, as denoted by reference numeral 392. While in thehost mode 392, the NFC device 46 of the payee device 10 may periodicallyemit NFC communication signals to seek out other NFC-enabled deviceshaving their own respective NFC interfaces 60 and NFC devices 46 thatare within the appropriate range to facilitate an NFC connection.

For instance, when the payee device 10 and the payor device 92 areplaced within an appropriate range (e.g., the tap operation 386) forestablishing an NFC connection, the establishment of the connection maybegin with an initiation handshake, referred to herein by referencenumeral 396. It should be understood, that in tapping the devices, it isimportant that the NFC devices 46 within each respective device arepositioned in such a way that the distance between the respective NFCdevices 46 is suitable for establishing an NFC-based connection. Forexample, if the payor device 92 is a relatively large non-portabledevice, the payee would be required to position the payee device 10 suchthat the NFC device 46 within the payee device 10 is within theappropriate distance of any corresponding NFC circuitry within the payordevice 92 in order to establish the NFC connection 388.

While the NFC interface 60 and the NFC device 46 of the payee device 10are operating in the host mode, the payee device 10 may periodicallyemit ping messages 400. The corresponding NFC interface 60 of the payordevice 92 may receive the ping messages 400, thus causing the NFC device46 located within the payor device 92 to awake upon the detection of theNFC transmission (e.g., wake on NFC), thereby transitioning from apassive mode to an active mode, as indicated by reference numeral 398.Thus, once powered on and active, the NFC device 46 of the payor device92 may reply in response to the ping message 400 by sending anacknowledgement message 402 which may be received via the NFC interface60 of the payee device 10, thus completing the initiation handshake 396.

Following this initiation handshake 396, the payee device 10 and thepayor device 92 may exchange device profiles as indicated by thereference numeral 404. The device profiles 404 may include a variety ofinformation regarding the functions available on the payee device 10 andthe payor device 92. For example, the device profiles 404 may berepresented by data messages of any suitable form, including extensiblemarkup language (XML), which may denote the device name, serial number,owner name, device type, as well as any other type of identifyinginformation. For example, additional identifying information mayinclude, for example, the name of a service provider, such as a networkor cellular telephone service provider that may be associated with eachof the devices 10 and 92. The device profiles 404 may additionallyinclude information with regard to the capabilities of the payee device10 or the payor device 92 by indicating which applications, drivers, orservices may be installed on each device.

Additionally, the payee device 10 and the payor device 92 may alsoexchange information with regard to the encryption capabilitiesavailable on each device, as represented by reference numeral 406. Asdiscussed above, because the various transactions discussed herein mayinvariably involve the transfer of sensitive information, such asinformation relating to credit card accounts and bank accounts, the useof one or more encryption measures for protecting the transactioninformation being transferred between a payee device 10 and a payordevice 92, as well as to the one or more financial servers 100, may beimplemented. Accordingly, once the NFC connection 388 is established andthe device profiles 404 and encryption capabilities 406 are exchanged,information may be exchanged between the devices 10 and 92, as indicatedby reference numeral 408.

Returning now to FIG. 12A, the data transfer 408 may include thetransfer of the payment request information 384 from the payee device 10to the payor device 92 by way of the established NFC connection 388.Next, upon receiving the payment request information 384, the payorrespond may continue the transaction process by selecting a paymentaccount stored on the payor device 92. In the illustrated embodiment,the selected payment account may be a credit card account. The payordevice 92 may transmit the credit card information 410 corresponding tothe selected credit card account to the payee device 10 via the NFCconnection 388 by way of a second tap operation 412. As can beappreciated, the tap operation 412 may be carried out in a manneridentical to the tap operation 386 described above with reference toFIG. 13, except that the payor device 92 may act as the host device,while the payee device may operate in a “wake on NFC” mode. It shouldalso be noted, that in some embodiments, the exchange of the paymentrequest information 384 and the payment account information 410 mayoccur via a single tap operation (e.g., 386) if distance between thedevices 10 and 92 is maintained, thus keeping the NFC connection 388active for the duration of the data transfer.

After receiving the credit card information 410 on the payee device 10,the payee may select a crediting account to which the requested paymentis to be credited, as discussed above with reference to the method 328(e.g., step 338). Once the crediting account is selected, the payor'scredit card account information 410, the payee's crediting accountinformation, and the payment request information 384, collectivelyrepresented by the transaction information 414, may be transmitted tothe financial server 380 by way of a network connection depicted hereinby reference numeral 416. By way of example, if the selected creditingaccount is a bank account, the financial server 380 may correspond to abanking provider that maintains the crediting account. Additionally, thenetwork 416 by which the transaction information 414 is transmitted maybe include any suitable network that may be provided by onecommunication interfaces 56 (e.g., WAN, LAN, WLAN, etc.) available onthe payee device 10. For instance, the network 416 may be a wirelessinternet connection established by way of the WLAN interface 58, a localarea network connection established through the LAN interface 66, or awide area network connection established by way of the WAN interface 68,which may include one of various WAN mobile communication protocols,such as a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) connection, an EDGEconnection (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution connection), or a 3Gconnection, such as in accordance with the IMT-2000 standard discussedabove.

Upon receipt the transaction information 414, the financial server 380may perform several actions to further the authorization of therequested transaction 375. For example, the financial server 380 mayfirst assess the accounts provided by the transaction information 414 todetermine whether the specified payment account and crediting accountare compatible. As discussed above, the financial server 380 may beunable to process the requested transaction 375 if the specifiedcrediting account is not authorized to accept payments from a creditcard account. Next, if the crediting account and the payment account aredetermined by the financial server 380 to be compatible, the financialserver 380 may further transmit the payor's credit card accountinformation, represented by reference numeral 418, to the credit cardverification server 382 by way of a network 420. The network 420 may beany type of suitable network for facilitating the transmission of data,including one or more of the network types described above with regardto the network 416 by which the transaction information 414 is initiallytransmitted to the financial server 380.

Once the payor's credit card account information 418 is received by thecredit card verification server 382, additional verification andauthorization steps, represented by reference numeral 422, may beperformed in order to verify that the provided credit card account isvalid and has the sufficient line of credit to fulfill the requestedpayment. Thus, if the credit card verification server 382 determinesthat the provided credit card information 418 corresponds to a validcredit card account having the sufficient credit to carry out therequested payment 384, the credit card verification server 382 mayauthorize the requested payment by sending an authorization message tothe financial server 380 by way of the network 420. The financial server380 may then complete the processing of the requested transaction 375,as illustrated by reference numeral 424, in which an amountcorresponding to the requested payment is charged to the payor's creditcard account, and where the charged is deposited to the payee's selectedcrediting account.

Thereafter, once the transaction has been successfully processed andcompleted at step 424, a transaction confirmation message 426 may betransmitted to the payee device 10 by way of the network 416. Thetransaction confirmation message 426 may generally indicate to the payeethat the requested payment 384 has been completed. Additionally, apayment receipt 428 may also be transmitted to the payor device 92. Thepayment receipt 428 may be transmitted to the payor device 92 by any ofthe connection types described above. For example, the transmission ofthe payment receipt 428 may occur via a network 430, which may be anytype of network connection established by way of a common networkinginterface available on the payee device 10 and the payor device 92, suchas a LAN connection (e.g., interface 66), a WLAN connection (e.g.,interface 58), or a WAN connection (e.g., interface 68). Additionally,the payment receipt 428 may also be transmitted by tapping the payeedevice 10 to the payor device 92. This tap operation, illustrated byreference numeral 432, may establish a further NFC connection 434, thusproviding a channel by which the payment receipt 428 may be transmittedto the payor device 92.

The payment receipt 428 may include information, such as the totalpayment amount for the transaction 375, the method of payment (e.g., thecredit card account 410), and the time of the transaction 375 wasprocessed. Additionally, in certain embodiments, the payment receipt 428may indicate additional charges of fees associated with the transactionprocessing services collectively provided by the devices 10 and 92 andthe financial servers 100 (e.g., including the bank server 380 andcredit card server 382) in carrying out the transaction 375. Thus, itshould be noted that in accordance with a further aspect of the presentdisclosure, various business methods may be provided in which atransaction fee is charged to one or both of the payee and payor. Thefee may be charged each time a transaction request is processed, or maybe a flat fee based on a monthly subscription service, for example.Additionally, an agreement may be reached in which the transaction feesmay be apportioned among one or more of the entities providing thetransaction services, including the banking provider (e.g., associatedwith the financial server 380), the credit card provider (e.g.,associated with the credit card server 382), or the devicemanufacturer(s) (e.g., manufacturer of the devices 10 and 92) forinstance. In accordance with one embodiment, the transaction fees mayinitially be collected by a single entity (e.g., the banking provider),and later apportioned in an agreed manner amongst the remaining entities(e.g., the credit card provider and device manufacturer(s)).

Continuing now to FIG. 12B, a schematic diagram representing analternate embodiment a transaction in accordance with the presentlydescribed techniques is illustrated and generally referred to byreference numeral 376. As discussed above, the transaction 376 may besimilar to the transaction 375 described in FIG. 12A, except that thepayment account selected by the payor may be a bank account rather thana credit card account. As discussed above, the payee device 10 mayinitially transmit a payment request 384 to the payor device 92 by wayof the NFC connection 388, which may be established as a result of thetap operation 386. Upon receiving the payment request 384, the payor mayselect a bank account stored on the payor device 82 as the paymentaccount and transmit the bank account information 440 to the payeedevice 10 using the NFC connection 388.

After receiving the bank account information 440 on the payee device 10,the payee may select a crediting account, as discussed above, and thentransmit the transaction information 442, which may include the selectedpayment account (e.g., 440), crediting account, and payment requestinformation 384 to the financial server 380 by way of the network 416.As discussed above, the financial server 380, which may correspond to abanking provider that maintains the payee's selected crediting account,may initiate one or more authorization steps, such as determiningwhether the specified payment account and crediting account arecompatible. The financial server 380 may then transmit the payor's bankaccount information, represented by reference 444 to a second financialserver 418 that is associated with the payor's banking provider. Inother words, the present transaction 376 illustrates a scenario in whichthe bank accounts selected by the payee and payor are maintained by twodifferent banking providers (e.g., different financial institutions).

The transmission of the bank account information 444 to the financialserver 418 may be accomplished by way the network 420. Once the bankaccount information 444 is received, the financial server 418 maydetermine whether the account is a valid account, and whether theaccount contains the sufficient funds to satisfy the requested payment384. If the financial server 418 determines payment request 384 may beauthorized with regard to the bank account 444, an authorization messagemay be transmitted to the financial server 380 via the network 420. Asdiscussed above, the financial server 380 may then complete theprocessing of the requested transaction 376, as illustrated by referencenumeral 448, in which an amount corresponding to the requested paymentis debited from the payor's bank account and subsequently deposited tothe payee's crediting account.

Thereafter, once the transaction has been successfully processed, atransaction confirmation message 450 may be transmitted to the payeedevice 10 by way of the network 416. The transaction confirmationmessage 450 may generally indicate to the payee that the requestedpayment 384 has been applied to the crediting account, thus completingthe transaction 376. Additionally, a payment receipt 428 may also betransmitted to the payor device 92 using one or the various availablenetworking connections, as discussed above.

Referring now with FIG. 12C, another schematic diagram of a transactionin accordance with a further embodiment is illustrated and generallyreferred to by reference numeral 378. Specifically, FIG. 12C illustratesa transaction process that may be similar to the transaction 376described with reference to FIG. 12B, but in which the payment accountand the crediting account are bank accounts maintained by the same bankprovider. As will be described in detail below, in the presentembodiment, the one or more financial servers denoted by referencenumeral 100 in FIG. 4, may only require a single financial server 380.

To initiate the transaction process 378, the payee device 10 maytransmit a payment request 384 to a payor device 92 in a manner similarto that described above with regard to FIGS. 12A and 12B. For example,the transmission of the payment request 384 may be accomplished bytapping 386 the payee device 10 to the payor device 92, thusestablishing an NFC connection 388 for the transfer of data. Once thepayment request 384 is received, the payor may select a bank account asthe payment account. Thereafter, the payor device 92 may transmitbanking information 458 related to the selected bank account to thepayee device 10 by way of the NFC connection 388.

Upon receiving the banking information 458 from the payor device 92, thepayee may select a crediting account to which the requested payment 384is to be credited. As noted above, in the presently illustrated scenariothe selected crediting account and the provided payment account 458,collectively referred to herein as the transaction information 460, mayboth be accounts held by the same banking provider. Thus, thetransaction information 460 may then be transmitted by way of thenetwork 416 to the financial server 380 which may be associated with thecommon banking provider for both the payment and crediting accounts.

The financial server 380 may then perform the steps of verifying thevalidity of the provided accounts, as well as determining whether thepayment account contains the sufficient funds to fulfill the paymentrequest 384. It should be noted that unlike the embodiments described inFIGS. 12A and 12B, the financial server 380 is not required to transmitaccount information to a second external server, such as the credit cardverification server 382 of FIG. 12A or the second financial server 418of FIG. 12B due to the fact that a common banking provider maintainsthese accounts. Accordingly, the information pertaining to the creditingaccount and the selected payment account 458 is stored and accessible bythe financial server 380. Accordingly, once the financial server 380,has verified that both the crediting and payment accounts are valid, andthat the payment account contains the sufficient funds to fulfill therequested payment 384, the financial server 380 may process thetransaction, as indicated by reference numeral 464 such that therequested payment is debited from the payor's bank account andsubsequently deposited to the payee's crediting account, as discussedabove. Upon completion of the transaction 378, a transactionconfirmation message 466 may be transmitted from the financial server380 to the payee device 10 by way of the network 416. Additionally, apayment receipt 428 may be transmitted to the payor device 92 using theavailable networking connections mentioned above.

Having described the various embodiments depicting device-to-devicetransactions (e.g., between a payor device 92 and a payee device 10)with respect to the transactions 375, 376, and 378 depicted in FIGS.12A, 12B, and 12C, respectively, various techniques for operating thepayee device 10 and the payor device 92 to accomplish the foregoingtransactions 375, 376, and 378 are further illustrated in FIGS. 14A-14Jby way of various screen images that may be displayed on either thepayee device 10 or the payor device 92, as well as via schematicillustrations. Additionally, it should be noted that in the presentlyillustrated embodiment, the payee device 10 and the payor device 92 areboth NFC-enabled devices.

Referring first to FIG. 14A, a process by which the payee may operatethe device 10 to transmit a payment request is illustrated. The actionsdepicted by these screen images may generally correspond to the step 332of the method 328 illustrated in FIG. 11A, as well as the transmissionof the payment request information 384 to the payor device 92, asdiscussed above. Additionally, the actions depicted herein may beperformed from the point of view of the payee and thus, the actionsdepicted in these screens will be described as being performed by thepayee.

As shown in the present figure, the process may begin from the screen110 which, as discussed above, may represent a “home screen” for thetransaction application 34. From the screen 110, the payee may selectthe graphical button 114, which may then advance the payee to the screen476. The screen 476 may display a plurality of graphical buttons 478,480, and 482. Each of these graphical buttons may represent a particularfunction that may be performed when selected by the payee. For instance,in the illustrated embodiment, the graphical button 478 may represent afunction by which the user may initiate a payment request. The graphicalbutton 480 may represent a function by which the user may send a paymentto another device. Additionally, the graphical button 482 may allow theuser to initiate a transaction between two or more other parties. Thefunctions represented by the latter two graphical buttons 480 and 482will be described in further detail below.

To initiate a payment request, the payee may select the graphical button478, which may further advance the payee to the screen 484. Like thescreen 476, the screen 484 may also display a plurality of graphicalbuttons 486, 488, and 490, each of which may represent specificfunctions. As shown here, the graphical button 486 may represent afunction by which the payee may initiate a payment request using the NFCdevice 46. This function may generally correspond to the techniquesdescribed above with respect to the transactions 375, 376, and 378.Additionally, the graphical buttons 488 and 490 may represent additionalfunctions available on the device 10 through which transactions may beinitiated and will be described in further detail below.

By selecting graphical button 486, the payee may proceed to the screen492. As shown in FIG. 14A, the screen 492 may include the text fields496, 498, and 500 by which the payee may enter information relating tothe payment request. For instance, the text field 496 may be used toenter the identify of the payee, the text field 498 may be used tospecify the amount of the payment being requested, and the text field500 may allow the payee to include a descriptive message regarding thenature or reason for the requested payment. As shown in the screen 492,the required information may be entered into the text fields 496, 498,and 500, by way of the text keyboard 160 or the numerical keyboard 164(e.g., via selection of the graphical button 162). Once the requiredinformation is entered into the text fields 496, 498, and 500, the payeemay transmit the entered information in the form of a payment request(e.g., 384) to a payor device 92 by selecting the graphical button 504.

The function represented by the graphical button 504 may correspond toexecuting an instruction to power on the NFC device 46 of the payeedevice 10, thus placing the device 10 into an NFC active mode andenabling the NFC interface 60, as described above. For example,referring now to FIG. 14B, upon the selection of the graphical button504, the screen 508 may be displayed on the payee device 10. The screen508 may include a notification message 510 indicating that the NFCinterface 60 of the payee device 10 is presently active and capable ofestablishing an NFC connection with an external device for thetransmission of the payment request information entered in the screen492. Accordingly, the notification message 510 may further instruct thepayee to tap (e.g., 386) the payee device 10 to a second device, such asa payor device 92, in order to establish the NFC connection.

Referring briefly to FIG. 14C, the establishment of an NFC connection388 between two devices, namely the payee device 10 and the payor device92, by way of the tap operation 386 is illustrated. As discussed above,the NFC device 46 of the payee device 10 may be powered on upon theselection of the graphical button 504 illustrated in FIG. 14A, thusplacing the device 10 into a host mode or active mode, as indicated byreference numeral 392, in which the active device 10 may periodicallyemit NFC transmission ping messages 400, as discussed above withreference to FIG. 13. As the active device 10 is placed within anacceptable distance 514 (e.g., 2-4 cm) from the payor device 92, whichmay presently be in a passive or wake on NFC mode, as illustrated byreference numeral 390, the payor device 92 may transition from thepassive to an active mode in which the NFC device 46 within the payordevice 92 is powered on, thus enabling the payor device's 92corresponding NFC interface 60 and providing the establishment of theNFC connection 388 between the payee device 10 and the payor device 92through which the payment request may be transmitted.

Although the payor device 92 illustrated in FIG. 14C is depicted asbeing a portable device similar to the payee device 10, it should beunderstood that in alternate embodiments, the payee device 92 may alsoinclude non-portable devices, such as a personal computer, a computingworkstation, a payment terminal, or the like. For instance, referringnow to FIG. 14D, the establishment of the NFC connection is depicted inwhich the payee device 10 is tapped to a non-portable desktop computer,illustrated here by reference numeral 515. Thus, it should be understoodthat embodiments of the present disclosure are intended to provide forthe initiation and processing of transactions between any suitable typesof electronic devices, whether portable or non-portable.

Returning to FIG. 14B, once the payee device 92 is tapped 386 to thepayor device 92, the payor device 92 may detect the NFC transmissions(e.g., ping messages 400) being emitted from the payee device 10, andtransition from a passive to an active mode, whereby the correspondingNFC device 46 of the payor device 92 is powered on. As shown in FIG.14B, once the devices 10 and 92 have been tapped and NFC transmissionsbeing emitted from the payee device 10 are detected, the screen 516 maybe displayed on the payor device 92. The screen 516 may include anotification message 518 informing the payor that an NFC transmissionhas been detected and that in response, the corresponding NFC device 46of the payor device 92 is being powered on and the corresponding NFCinterface 60 enabled. The notification screen 516 may further provide agraphical button 520 by which the payor may cancel the NFC connectionprocess if selected.

If the establishment of the NFC connection 388 is permitted on the payordevice 92, then the screen 508 displayed on the payee device 10 may beupdated to display the notification message 522. The notificationmessage 522 may indicate that an NFC connection (e.g., 388) has beenestablished between the payee device 10 and the payor device 92 and thatthrough the NFC connection 388, the payment request informationspecified by the payee on the screen 492 of FIG. 14A is beingtransmitted to the payor device 92. The screen 508 may also include thegraphical button 512 by which the payee has the option of canceling thepayment request either prior to or during the transmission of thepayment request information.

Meanwhile, the notification screen 516 displayed on the payor device 92may similarly be updated to display the notification message 524. Thenotification message 524 may indicate to the payor that the NFCconnection 388 has been established between the payor device 92 and thepayee device 10, and that payment request information is presently beingtransmitted from the payee device 10 and received by way of thecorresponding NFC interface 60 in the payor device 92.

As can be appreciated, the interactions between the payee device 10 andthe payor device 92 described in FIG. 14B may generally correspond toone or more of the steps depicted in the methods 328 and 360 illustratedin FIGS. 11A and 11B, respectively. For instance, the actionsillustrated in the screen 508 may represent the step 334 of transmittingan invoice to the payor. Referring briefly to FIG. 15A, which depictsvarious steps of the method 328 in greater detail in accordance with thepresent embodiment, the step of transmitting of payment requestinformation to a payor (e.g., step 334) may include establishing an NFCconnection, such as by way of the tap operating 386, as indicated bystep 530. Additionally, the performance of the step 334 may furtherinclude transmitting the payment request information entered in thescreen 492 to a payor device 92 using the established NFC connection, asrepresented by the step 532. Further, the screen 516 which may bedisplayed on the payor device 92 upon the detection of an NFCtransmission from the payee device 10 may represent the step 364 ofreceiving a payment request in the method 360. For instance, referringnow to FIG. 15B, the step 364 may be described in further detail inaccordance with the presently illustrated embodiment. For example, thestep 364 of receiving the payment request may, in accordance with thepresent embodiment, may include the act of joining an NFC connection byway of a tap operation, as illustrated by step 534. Additionally, oncethe NFC connection is established the payor device 92 may receive thepayment request information transmitted from the payee device 10 usingthe NFC connection, as illustrated by step 536.

As described above, specifically with reference to FIGS. 12A-C, thepayor, in response to a payment request 384 received from the payeedevice 10, may select an appropriate payment method on the payor device92. For example, the selected payment account may include a credit cardaccount (e.g., 410), a bank account (e.g., 440) provided by a differentbanking provider with respect to the bank provider associated with thepayee's crediting account (e.g., 440), or a bank account (e.g., 458) inwhich the banking provider also manages the payee's crediting account.The selection of these various types of payment accounts may beillustrated by various screen images that may be displayed on the payordevice 92, as depicted by FIGS. 14E-14G.

Referring first to FIG. 14E, once the payment request information hasbeen received by the payor device, the screen 516 may be updated todisplay the details 540 of the payment request, which may generallyreflect information entered by the payee into the fields 496, 498, and500 on the screen 492 of FIG. 14A. Additionally the screen 516 mayinclude the graphical buttons 542 and 544, by which the user may eitheraccept or decline the payment request, respectively. As shown in FIG.14E, if the payor selects the graphical button 542, the payor may beadvanced to the screen 546. The screen 546 may list the some or part ofthe received payment request information. For instance, the screen 546display the identity of the payee 550 and the requested payment amount552. The screen 546 may also display information pertaining to theidentity of the payor, as indicated by reference numeral 548. In theillustrated figure, the payor identify information 548 may include thename of the payor, as well as an associated e-mail address identifyingthe payor. Accordingly, the displayed e-mail address may be transmittedto the payee device 10 and utilized by the transaction process, such asfor the sending of the payment receipt 428 described above.

The screen 546 may further display the presently selected paymentaccount 554. As shown here, the current selected payment method 554 maybe the default or preferred payment method which may have been selectedby the payor, such as by using one or more of the techniques describedabove with reference to FIG. 7. Additionally, the screen 546 may includethe graphical buttons 558, 560, and 562. The graphical button 558 mayrepresent a function by which the payor may initiate the transmission ofthe payment information using the default payment account 554. Thegraphical button 560 may represent a further function by which the usermay select an alternate method of payment. Thus, if the payor prefers touse an account other than the account 554 as the payment account in thepresent transaction, the payor may do by selecting the graphical button560. Additionally, the payor may have the option of canceling thetransaction through the selection of the graphical button 562.

If the payor chooses to select a payment account other than thecurrently selected default payment account 554, the payor may select thegraphical button 560 to access the screen 566. The screen 566 maydisplay a plurality of graphical buttons 570, 572, 574, 576, and 578representing account categories. In certain embodiments, such as thepresently illustrated embodiment, each of the categories represented bythe buttons 570, 572, 574, 576, or 578, may be further subdivided intoadditional sub-categories. By way of example, the selection of thecredit card account category, represented by the graphical button 570,may advance the payor to the screen 580, which may display the graphicalbuttons 584, 586, 588, 590, and 592 representing various sub-categoriesof credit card account types that may be selected by the payor.Referring back to the screen 146 of FIG. 5A, the credit card accountsub-categories for the credit card accounts represented by the graphicalbuttons 584, 586, 588, 590, and 592 may correspond to one or more of thecredit card categories provided in the drop-down field 154.Additionally, the payor may also have the option of viewing allavailable credit card accounts presently stored on the payor device 92by selecting the graphical button 594.

The payor may also choose to view all available payment accounts (e.g.,not limited to just credit card accounts) before making a paymentaccount selection. For example, by selecting the graphical button 118 onthe screen 580, the payor may be returned to the previous screen 566.Here, the payor may select the graphical button 578 to access a listingof all selectable payment accounts stored on the payor device 92, whichmay be provided by the screen 598. In the illustrated embodiment, thescreen 598 may display a listing of all the currently stored andavailable payment accounts by categories. For example, the availablepayment accounts may be grouped according to credit card accounts 600,bank accounts 602, as well as additional accounts 604, including anon-cash iTunes® account, as generally described above.

As shown in the listing of the stored credit card accounts 600 on thescreen 598, the available credit card accounts may include the presentlyselected default payment account 554, as well as an alternate creditcard account 602. Thus, as illustrated on the screen 598, if the payordoes not wish to use the default payment account 554 to provide therequested payment 384, the payor may select the alternate credit cardaccount 602 as the payment account. Upon selecting the alternate creditcard account 602, the payor may be returned to the screen 546, which maybe updated to indicate the selection of the credit card account 602 asbeing the payment account for the present transaction. Additionally, theupdated screen 546 may display the graphical button 606, which mayreplace the previously displayed graphical button 558. The graphicalbutton 606 may represent a function by which the payor may initiate thesending of the credit card account information 602 to the payee device10.

Alternatively, if the payor may choose accounts other than the listedcredit card accounts 600 as the selected payment account. For instance,the user may select a bank account from the listing 603 or a non-cashaccount from the listing 604. Referring now to the screen imagesdepicted in FIGS. 14F and 14G, these images illustrate a method by whichthe payor may select a bank account as the payment account.Specifically, FIG. 14F illustrates the selection of a bank account, inwhich the selected bank account and the payee's crediting account aremaintained by different banking providers, such as described in thetransaction 376 in FIG. 12B. FIG. 14G illustrates the payor's selectionof a bank account and may correspond to the transaction 378 depicted byFIG. 12C, in which the selected payment account and the payee'screditing account are maintained by the same banking provider.

As shown in FIG. 14F, the payor may navigate to the screen 566 by firstselecting the graphical button 542 on the screen 516 and then selectingthe graphical button 560 on the screen 546 as discussed above. At thescreen 546, rather than selecting the graphical button 570 or 578, asdescribed above, the payor may select the graphical button 572 to accessthe screen 610, which may display the listing 603 of bank accountsstored on the payor device 92 that may be used as a payment account. Asillustrated in the present embodiment, the payor may select the bankaccount 612. Thereafter, the payor may be returned to the updated screen546 which may reflect the selection of the bank account 612 as thepayment account for the present transaction. It should be noted that thebank account 612 is associated with a banking provider (e.g., WellsFargo®) that may be different from the banking provider (e.g.,Wachovia®) associated with the default crediting account 216 selected bythe payee, as discussed above with reference to the screen 270 in FIG.8. Thus, as explained above with reference to FIG. 12B, theauthorization and processing of a transaction in accordance with theactions depicted by the screens of FIG. 14F may require a communicationto occur between separate financial servers (e.g., the financial servers380 and 418) associated with each respective banking provider.

FIG. 14G similarly illustrates the selection of a bank account by thepayor that may share a common banking provider with the payee'screditing account, such as depicted by the transaction 378 in FIG. 12C.Beginning with the screen 516, the payor may select, in the followingorder: the graphical button 542 to navigate to the screen 546, thegraphical button 560 to navigate to the screen 566, and the graphicalbutton 572 to access the listing 603 of bank accounts on the screen 610.Here, rather than selecting the bank account 612, the payor may selectthe bank account 614. It should be noted that bank account 614 and thepayee's default crediting account 216 are associated with the samebanking provider (e.g., Wachovia®). Accordingly, upon selection of thebank account 614 the payor may be returned to the screen 546, which maybe updated to reflect the selection of the bank account 614 as thepayment account for the present transaction. Additionally, as discussedabove with reference to FIG. 12C, a transaction in accordance with theactions depicted by the screens of FIG. 14G may be authorized andprocessed by a single financial server (e.g., 380).

As discussed above, a device, such as the payee device 10 or the payordevice 92, may include one or more security features, such as the use ofan authorization PIN code, such as the PIN 286 described above in FIG.9. As will be appreciated, the use of an authorization PIN code mayprevent unauthorized payments from being made from the payor device 92or the payee device 10. By way of example, the payor may configure thedevice (e.g., through one or more user preference settings) such that anauthorization PIN code must be provided in order to authorize thesending and transmission of payment information from the payor device92.

Continuing now to FIG. 14H, once a payment method, such as the alternatecredit card account 602 has been selected, as indicated on the screen546, the payor may proceed with the payment by selecting the graphicalbutton 606. Thereafter, the screen 620 may be displayed on the payordevice 92 and may include an instructional message 622 instructing theuser that the authorization PIN code must be entered in order tocomplete the transaction. Accordingly, the payor may input the properauthorization PIN code 624 into the text field 626 by way of thenumerical keyboard 164. As discussed above, it should be appreciatedthat the device may support the use of alphanumeric authorization pincodes. In such embodiments, the user may toggle between a numericalkeyboard 164 and the text input keyboard 160 (not shown in FIG. 14H) byselecting the graphical button 166. Additionally, while the use of theauthorization PIN code 624 has been illustrated in FIG. 14H with regardto the selection of the credit card account 602 in FIG. 14E, it shouldbe appreciated that the authorization PIN code 624 may also beimplemented with regard to the embodiments illustrated by FIGS. 14F and14G as well, where the selected payment method is a bank account, aswell as with any other type of payment method that may be selected onthe payor device 92.

Once the proper authorization PIN code 624 has been entered, the usermay authorize and send the payment information to the payee device 10 byselecting the graphical button 628. Upon selection of the graphicalbutton 628, the screen 630 may be displayed on the payor device 92 andmay indicate, as represented by the reference numeral 632, that the NFCdevice 46 of the payor device 92 has been powered on, thus enabling thecorresponding NFC interface 60 and placing the payor device 92 into anactive or host mode, as discussed above. The notification message 632may further instruct the payor to perform a tap operation to thereceiving device, in this case, the payee device 10. Additionally, thescreen 630 may include the graphical button 634, by which the payor mayselect in order to cancel the sending of the payment information ifnecessary.

Continuing now to FIG. 14I, this figure generally depicts a tapoperation and subsequent establishment of an NFC connection between thepayor device 92 and the payee device 10. As discussed above in FIG. 14H,the screen 630 which may be displayed on the payor device 92 may includethe instructional message 632 indicating to the payor that the payordevice 92 is currently in an active mode, and further instruct the payorto perform a tap operation, such as the tap operation 412 depicted inFIG. 12A, to the payee device 10. Thus, once the payor device 92 and thepayee device 10 are placed within proximity of each other, such that thedistance between the two devices is sufficient for the establishment ofan NFC connection, the payee device 10 may detect the NFC transmissionsbeing emitted from the payor device 92, such as the ping messages 400 asdescribed above.

Upon detection of the NFC transmissions from the payor device 92, thepayee device may activate its own corresponding NFC device 46. Further,the screen 638 may be displayed on the payee device 10 including thenotification message 640 indicating to the payee that an NFCtransmission has been detected and that the NFC device 46 of the payeedevice 10 is being powered on. The notification screen 638 may alsofurther include the graphical button 642, which provides the payee withan option to cancel the establishment of an NFC connection if sodesired. Thus, if the payee permits the establishment of the NFCconnection, the screen 630 displayed on the payor device 92 and thescreen 638 displayed on the payee device 10 may each be updated todisplay the notification messages 644 and 646, respectively. Thenotification message 644 displayed on the send payment informationscreen 630 may indicate to the payor that an NFC connection has beenestablished and that the payment information 410 which may include, forexample, the credit card account 602 selected in FIG. 14E, is beingtransmitted to the payee device 10. At the same time, the notificationmessage 646 displayed on the screen 638 of the payee device 10 mayindicate to the payee that the NFC connection has been established, andthat the payment information 410 is being received on the NFC interface60 of the payee device 10.

The actions depicted by the screens shown in FIGS. 14E-14I, maygenerally represent the step of providing payment information to thepayee, as indicated by step 336 of the method 360 depicted and describedabove in FIG. 11B. Referring again to FIG. 15B, the step 366 ofproviding the payment information to the payee is illustrated in furtherdetail. For instance, upon receiving the invoice information (step 536),a determination may be made on the payor device 92 as to whether or notto accept the received payment information, as illustrated by step 650.This step may correspond to the selection of the graphical button 542 onthe screen 516, as discussed above.

Once the payment request information is accepted, the payor, at step652, may further proceed with the step of selecting a payment accountfrom which the payment request is to be debited or charged. This stepmay generally be represented by the selection of the alternate creditcard account 602 depicted in FIG. 14E, or the selection of the bankaccounts 612 or 614 depicted in FIG. 14F and FIG. 14G, respectively.Thereafter, once an appropriate payment account is selected, an NFCconnection may be established by a tapping operation, as indicated atstep 654, thereby establishing an NFC connection between the payordevice 92 and the payee device 10, as discussed above, at step 654.Next, at step 656, the selected payment account information from step652 may be transmitted to the payor device 10 by way of the establishedNFC connection. Referring to FIG. 14I, the transmission of the paymentinformation at step 656 may correspond to the transmission of thepayment information 410 from the payor device 92 to the payee device 10.

Additionally, from the point of view of the payee, the steps ofestablishing the NFC connection by way of the tap operation 412, as wellas the receipt of the payment information 410, may correspond to thestep 336 of the method 328, which represents the acquisition of thepayment information 410 from the payor device 92. This step is furtherdescribed FIG. 15A, in which the step 336 is illustrated in additionaldetail in accordance with the presently illustrated transaction.Referring to FIG. 15A, step 336 may include the step of first joining anNFC connection established through a tap operation, such as the tapoperation 412, represented here by reference numeral 660. Following theestablishment of the NFC connection, the payee may, at step 662, receivethe payment account information (e.g., 410) corresponding to theselected payment account (e.g., step 652). Once the payment informationis received by the payee device 10, the step of selecting a creditingaccount, as depicted by step 338 in FIG. 15A, may be performed on thepayee device 10.

Referring now to FIG. 14J, the selection of the crediting account by thepayee is illustrated by the screens 638 and 674 in accordance with oneembodiment of the disclosure. Referring first to the screen 638, oncethe payment information 410 is received by the payee device 10, thescreen 638 may be updated to display the notification message 668. Thenotification message 668 may include information pertaining to theidentity of the payor, as well as the amount of the requested payment.In response to the notification message 668, the payee may either acceptthe offered payment by selecting the graphical button 670 or,alternatively, may choose to cancel the payment process by selecting thegraphical button 672. If the payee chooses to accept the payment byselecting the button 670, the payee may be navigated to the screen 674.

As shown in FIG. 14J, the screen 674 may display the payee identityinformation 676 and the payor identity information 678. The payeeidentity information 678 may display both the name of the payor as wellas one or more additional identifying attributes, such as an e-mailaddress, for example. As described in detail above, upon the successfulcompletion of the transaction, a payment receipt, such as the paymentreceipt 428, may be sent to the payor's e-mail address specified in thepayor identity information 678.

The screen 674 may further include the payment amount information 680,the payment method information specified by the payor, represented byreference numeral 682, as well as a crediting account to which therequested payment is to be credited. As shown on the screen 674, acrediting account may be initially selected as a default creditingaccount 216 specified by the payee during the configuration of devicepreferences, as discussed above with reference to FIG. 8. Additionally,the screen 674 may include the graphical button 686 by which the usermay initiate the process of crediting the requested payment to thedefault crediting account 216, the graphical button 688 by which theuser may select an alternate crediting account, as well as the graphicalbutton 690 by which the user may cancel the pending transaction.

If the payee chooses to credit the payment to the default creditingaccount 216, as illustrated by the selection of the graphical button686, the authorization and verification steps depicted by the decisionblock 340 in FIG. 11A, may be performed. The decision logic anddetermination steps that may take place in the decision block 340 areillustrated in further detail in FIG. 15A. As shown in FIG. 15, once thepayee has selected the crediting account at step 338 and initiated theprocessing of the transaction information, such as by selecting thegraphical button 686 on the screen 674, both the payment account (e.g.,602) selected by the payor and the crediting account (e.g., 216)specified by the payee may be transmitted, as indicated by step 694, toone or more financial servers (e.g., 100) for verification of theaccount information and authorization of the requested transaction. Forexample, as discussed above, specifically with reference to FIGS.12A-12C, the one or more financial servers 100 may include a bankserver, a credit card server, or some combination thereof, depending onthe types of accounts provided by the payee and the payor.

Continuing now to step 696, a determination may be made by the financialservers as to whether the selected payment and crediting accounts arecompatible. As discussed above, the case may arise in which thecrediting account specified by the payee may not be authorized orconfigured to accept payments from the payment account selected by thepayor. To provide one example, the payment and crediting account may notbe compatible if the crediting account is a bank account that is notauthorized to receive payments directly from a credit card account. Forinstance, referring back to FIG. 14J the screen 700 showing thenotification message 702 may be displayed if it is determined by thefinancial servers 100 that the selected payment and crediting accountsare not compatible.

The method depicted in FIG. 15A may then proceed to the decision step342 in which the payee has the option of renegotiating the payment termsby selecting an alternate crediting account, thus returning the methodback to step 338. For example, the renegotiation of payment terms may beperformed by selecting the graphical button 704 on the screen 700 ofFIG. 14J. Alternatively, the payee may renegotiate the selection of adifferent payment account by the payor, thereby returning the method tostep 662. Further, if at decision step 342 the payee chooses not torenegotiate the payment terms, then the payee may cancel thetransaction, as indicated by step 344, such as by selecting thegraphical button 706 on the screen 700.

Returning to the decision step 696, if it is determined that the paymentand crediting account specified by the payor and the payee arecompatible, then the method may proceed to the decision step 698, inwhich a determination may be made by the one or more financial servers100 as to whether the payment account is valid and contains thesufficient funds to satisfy the requested payment. If it is determinedthat the specified payment is either invalid or does not containsufficient funds to satisfy the requested payment, the method may returnto decision step 342, in which the payee has the options eithercanceling the transaction at step 344, or renegotiating the terms of thetransaction, such as by requesting that the payor provide anotherpayment account that does contain the sufficient funds. As will beappreciated, this action may return the method back to step 662.Referring again to FIG. 14J, the notification message 708 may bedisplayed on the screen 700 if it is determined at step 698 that thepayment account selected by the payor lacks the sufficient funds tosatisfy the requested payment. Accordingly, the screen 700 may includethe graphical button 710 by which the user may select in order to returnto the payment request screen 484 discussed above in FIG. 14A.Additionally, as discussed above, the payee may also cancel thetransaction by selecting the graphical button 706.

If it is determined at step 698 that the specified payment and creditingaccounts are both valid and that the payment account has the sufficientfunds, then the transaction may be authorized by the financial serversand processed, wherein the amount specified in the payment request maybe debited from the payment account and credited to the creditingaccount. For instance, as discussed above with reference to FIG. 12A,once the selected payment credit card account (e.g., 602) is verified,the credit card server 382 may send an authorization message to thefinancial server 380 indicating that the transaction has been approvedfor processing, as represented by block 424. Thereafter, once thetransaction is processed, the payee may receive a payment, as indicatedat step 346 of the method 328 in FIG. 11A. Additionally, from theviewpoint of the payor, a determination may made at step 368 of themethod 360 in FIG. 11B as to whether the transaction was processed andcompleted successfully. If it is determined that the transaction failedfor any reason, such as those depicted by the notification messages 702and 708 in FIG. 14J, then the payor's account is not charged at step370.

Similarly, if it is determined that the transaction was processedsuccessfully, then the payor's account may be debited for the amountspecified in the payment request at step 372, as discussed above. Forexample, referring again to FIG. 14J, upon the successful completion ofa transaction, the screen 712 may be displayed on the payee device 10.The screen 712 may include the notification message 714 informing thepayee that the requested payment amount 680 has been credited to theselected crediting account 216. The notification message 714 may furtherindicate to the payee that a payment receipt (e.g., 428) for the presenttransaction has been sent or transmitted to the payor. As discussedabove, a payment receipt in an electronic form may be e-mailed to thepayor using the e-mail address provided in the payor identificationinformation 678 on the screen 674. The transaction notification screen712 may further include the graphical buttons 716 and 718. The graphicalbutton 716 may be selected in order to initiate a subsequenttransaction. For example, by selecting the graphical button 716, thepayee may be returned to the transaction initiation screen 476 describedabove in FIG. 14A. Additionally, the user may exit the transactionapplication 34 by selecting the graphical button 718, thereby returningto the home screen 29 of the payee device 10, for example.

While the techniques and screen images associated with the transactionsdescribed above with regard to the embodiments illustrated in FIGS.12A-C and FIGS. 14A-J specifically rely on the initiation of atransaction by a payee, such as via sending a payment request (e.g.,384) from the device 10, it should be appreciated that in additionalembodiments, the payor may initiate the transaction as well. Forinstance continuing now to FIGS. 16A and 16B, these figures collectivelyillustrate methods from the viewpoints of the payor and the payee,respectively, in which a transaction may be initiated by a payor andsubsequently processed by a payee using the techniques generallydiscussed above.

Referring first to FIG. 16A, a method 730 for initiating a transactionfrom the viewpoint of the payor is illustrated. The method 730 beginswith a selection of a payment method at step 732. As described above,the selection of the payment method may include selecting a paymentaccount from one or more payment accounts stored upon a device, such asthe payor device 92. Once a payment account is selected, the paymentinformation corresponding to the selected payment account may betransmitted or sent to a payee, as indicated by step 734. As discussedabove, the transmission of the payment information may occur through acommunication channel established between a payor device 92 and a devicebelonging to the payee, such as the device 10. In the above-discussedembodiments, this communication channel may include an NFC connection,but may also include additional communication channels established viaother communication interfaces that may be available on the payee device10 and the payor device 92, such as those illustrated in FIG. 3 by thecommunication interface 56 (e.g., WAN, LAN, WLAN, PAN, etc.). Next, atdecision step 736, a determination is made as to whether the transactioninitiated by the payor is successfully completed. For example, asdiscussed above, the successful completion of a transaction may resultin the payee's selected crediting account being credited with a paymentfrom the payment account selected at step 732. If it is determined thatthe transaction did not complete successfully, then the payor's paymentaccount will not be charged, as indicated at step 738.

Returning to step 736, if it is determined that the transactioninitiated by the payor is completed successfully, then the method mayproceed to step 740, where the payor's selected payment account ischarged for an amount that may be specified in the payment informationsent at step 734, as discussed above. Finally, after the payor's accountis charged at step 740, the payor may receive a receipt from the payee,as indicated at step 742, which may serve as an acknowledgement that thepayment sent by the payor has been received. As discussed above, in someembodiments, the receipt may be in electronic form and received by thepayor through an e-mail address.

Referring now to FIG. 16B, a method for responding to the transactioninitiated by the payor in the method 730 of FIG. 16A and subsequentlyprocessing the transaction is illustrated and generally referred to byreference numeral 746. The method 746 may begin at step 748 whereinpayment information is received by the payee. By way of example, thepayment information received by the payee at step 748 may correspond tothe payment information sent by the payor at step 734 of the method 730.The payment information may include, for example, information withregard to a payment account selected by the payor, the identity of thepayor, as well as the amount of the payment being sent by the payor. Thepayment information may be received using a device, such as the device10 described above, using an NFC connection, for example.

Thereafter, at step 750, the payee may select a crediting account towhich the received payment is to be credited. For example, the creditingaccount may be selected by the payee from one or more crediting accountsstored on the payee device 10. Once the appropriate crediting account isselected, the payee may initiate the account verification process bytransmitting the account information, which may include both the paymentaccount information sent by the payor, as well as the selected creditingaccount information from step 750, to one or more financial serversconfigured to verify these accounts and to authorize a payment from thepayment account to the selected crediting account. This accountverification and payment authorization process is represented in FIG.16B by decision step 752, in which a determination is made as to whetherboth the payment account and the crediting account as specified in thepresent transaction are valid, and whether a payment account isauthorized and has the sufficient funds to perform the requestedpayment. If it is determined at step 752 that the transaction cannot beprocessed, such as for one or more of the reasons described above withregard to FIG. 14J, for example, then the method 746 may proceed todecision step 754.

At decision step 754, the payee may have the option of renegotiating theterms of the transaction. As described above, this may include one ormore of either selecting an alternate crediting account, or requestingthat the payor provide an alternate payment account. Accordingly, if thepayee decides to select an alternate crediting account, the method mayreturn back to step 750. Alternatively, if the payee chooses to requestthat the payor provide an alternate payment account, the method mayreturn to step 748, whereby the payee may then receive paymentinformation relating to, for example, a newly selected alternate paymentaccount. Additionally, the payee may also have the option of cancelingthe transaction, as indicated by step 756, if a decision is made not torenegotiate the terms of the transaction at decision step 754.

Returning to the decision step 752, if it is determined that the paymentaccount and the crediting account are both verified and that the paymentfrom the payment account to the crediting account may be authorized,then the payee may receive the payment sent by the payor at step 758.For example, the receipt of the payment at step 758 may include debitingthe amount of the payment, such as specified in the payment informationreceived at step 748, from the payor's selected payment account, andthereafter crediting the same amount to the payee's selected creditingaccount, thus completing the transaction at step 760. Additionally, themethod 746 may further include sending a receipt acknowledging that thepayment sent by the payor has been received by the payee, as indicatedby step 762. The transmission of the receipt at step 762 may correspondto the receipt received by the payor at step 742 of the method 730illustrated by FIG. 16A.

Continuing now to FIG. 17A, a plurality of screen images depicting theinitiation of the transaction on the payor device 92 is illustrated inaccordance with the transaction described by FIGS. 16A and 16B. Thepayor device 92 may include a transaction application similar to thetransaction application represented by the icon 34 and described abovewith reference to the payee device 10. Upon execution of the transactionapplication, the transaction screen 110 discussed above in FIG. 5A, maybe displayed on the payor device 92. From the transaction home screen110, a transaction may be initiated via selection of the graphicalbutton 114.

Upon selection of the graphical button 114, the payor may be advanced tothe screen 476. The screen 476 may display the graphical buttons 478,480, and 482, as discussed above. As illustrated, the payor may initiatethe sending of a payment by selecting the graphical button 480.Thereafter, the payor may be advanced to the screen 770. The screen 770may include a plurality of text fields, generally represented by thereference numeral 772, in which the payor may input information by wayof the text keyboard 160. For instance, as illustrated on the screen770, the payor may input the identity of the payee 774, the amount ofthe payment being sent to the payee 776, as well as a brief descriptionwith regard to the purpose or nature of the payment 778. The screen 770may further include the graphical buttons 780 and 782. Once theinformation 774, 776, and 778, have been entered into the form fields772, the user may proceed to the screen 786 in order to select anappropriate payment method by selecting the graphical button 780.Alternatively, the user has the option of canceling the transaction, andtherefore, not sending a payment by selecting the graphical button 782.

As shown on the screen 786, the information pertaining to the payee'sidentity 774, the amount of the payment being sent 776, as well as thedescription regarding the payment 778, may be displayed. Additionally,the screen 786 may further display the information pertaining to theidentity of the payor, as depicted by reference numeral 788. Asdiscussed above, the payor identity information may include both thename of the payor, as well as an additional identifying attribute, suchas an e-mail address. Also displayed on the screen 786 may be theselection of a payment method. As shown in FIG. 17A, the selectedpayment method be initially selected as the default payment method 554,discussed above with reference to FIG. 14E.

The screen 786 may further include the graphical buttons 790, 792, and794. As discussed above, these buttons may correspond to specificfunctions that may be performed on the payor device 92 upon theselection of these buttons. For instance, the graphical button 790 mayrepresent a function by which the payor may initiate the transactionusing the default payment account 554 as the selected payment method.The graphical button 792 may represent a function by which the payor maybe directed to one or more screens for the selection of an alternatepayment method, such as those described above with reference to thescreen 566 of FIG. 14E. The payor may also have the option of cancelingthe payment by selecting the graphical button 794.

The payee device 10 and the payor device 92 may each have configuredthereon one or more security features. For instance, as described abovewith a reference to FIG. 14H, the payor device 92 may require the entryof a previously stored authorization PIN code before the sending of apayment may be authorized. By way of example, as illustrated in FIG.17A, upon selection of the graphical button 790, the payor may beadvanced to the screen 620 discussed above in FIG. 14H. The screen 620includes a prompt 622 instructing the user to enter the authorizationPIN code 624 into the text field 626 using the numerical keyboardinterface 164. Additionally, as discussed above the user may select thegraphical button 166 to toggle between the numeric keyboard interface164 and a text input keyboard interface 162 (not shown in FIG. 17A). Forinstance, this feature may be implemented in embodiments where thedevice 92 supports alpha-numeric PIN codes including both text andnumber characters.

Once the authorization PIN code 624 has been entered, the payor mayproceed to send the entered payment information from the screen 786 tothe payee. For example, as discussed above with reference to FIG. 14I,the sending of the payment information may be accomplished by way of anNFC connection established between the payor device 92 and the payeedevice 10 through a tap operation 412. Accordingly, once the payordevice 92 and the payee device 10 have been tapped and placed within adistance that is capable of supporting an NFC connection (e.g., 2-4 cm)between these devices, the payment information displayed on the screen786 may be transmitted to the payee device 10 by way of the establishedNFC connection.

Continuing now to FIG. 17B, once the payment information is received bythe payee device 10, the screen 800 may be displayed on the payee device10. The screen 800 may include the notification message 802 informingthe payee that an offer for payment in the amount specified by the payorin the screen 770 of FIG. 17A has been received. The screen 800 mayfurther include the graphical buttons 804 and 806. By selecting thegraphical button 804, the payee may be advanced to the screen 674, aspreviously discussed above in FIG. 14J. The screen 674 may display theinformation that was entered by the payor in the screen 770, such as theidentity of the payee 774, the amount of the payment being sent 776, aswell as the method of payment selected by the payor, in this case, thedefault payment account 554. The screen 674 may further include thepayor's identification information 788, which may include the payor'se-mail, and may be used to send a receipt to the payor if thetransaction is successfully completed. The screen 674 may furtherdisplay the presently selected crediting account to which the payment isto be credited. As shown here, the selected crediting account isinitially the default account 216 that was configured in FIG. 8. Toprocess the transaction based on these settings, the payee may selectthe graphical button 686. As discussed above, the selection of thegraphical button 686 may initiate a process by which the payment account554 selected by the payor is debited for the amount 776, which is thencredited to the selected crediting account 216. This process may involveverification and authorization of the transaction by one or morefinancial servers 100, such as those described above in FIGS. 12A-C.

Depending on whether the processing of the transaction is successful,the screens 700 or 712 discussed above in FIG. 14J may be displayed onthe payee device 10. For instance, if the transaction failed for one ormore reasons, the screen 700 may be displayed. The screen 700 mayinclude a notification message 708 informing the payee as to the reasonor reasons that the transaction failed. Additionally, the screen 700 mayprovide the payee with an option to either return to the screen 484,such as by way of the graphical button 710, as well as an option tocancel the transaction through the selection of graphical button 706. Ifthe transaction is successfully completed, the screen 712 may bedisplayed on the payee device 10, displaying the notification message714 informing the payee that the transaction has successfully completedand that the payment amount specified by the payor 776 has been creditedto the selected crediting account 216. The notification message 714 mayfurther inform the payee that a receipt has been sent to the payor.

While the above-described embodiments all illustrate transactionsinvolving the use of monetary instruments, such as credit card and bankaccounts, it should be understood that the techniques set forth in thepresent disclosure may be applicable to other types of accountsrepresenting a holding of some sort of medium of exchange, including thenon-monetary and non-cash accounts described above (e.g., 126, 604). Forexample, a non-cash account may be an account associated with an onlinemusic vendor service, such as an iTunes® account, available through theiTunes® online digital media store/service operated and managed by AppleInc.

An iTunes® account may operate on the basis of credits which may beexchanged or redeemed from an internet-based online virtual store forthe purchase of music files (e.g., .mp3, .m4a) as well as other relatedtypes of media, such as podcasts, music videos, audio books, gameapplications, movies, or the like. Upon purchase, these media productsmay be stored on the device 10, such as in the long term storage device54 for later viewing or listening by the user. While the creditsassociated with an iTunes® account may not have monetary value in thereal world, these credits may nevertheless be used as a non-cash mediumof exchange with regard to products and services offered through theiTunes® service. Further, in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure, credits held by iTunes® accounts may be exchanged betweenaccount holders by way of the transaction techniques described above.

Before continuing the present discussion, it should be understood thatthe use of the iTunes® services offered by Apple Inc. are describedherein merely by way of example and, that in accordance with the presentdisclosure, the techniques described here may be applicable to non-cashaccounts provided by a number of online vendors, in which a non-cashmedium of exchange (e.g., “credits”) may be stored in these accounts andexchanged for products or services offered by the respective onlinevendor.

Referring now to FIG. 18, the transaction techniques illustrated byFIGS. 17A and 17B are described now with reference to iTunes® accountsheld by the payee and payor. Specifically, FIG. 18 illustrates aschematic representation of a transaction 808 in which a payment isinitially sent from a payor device 92 to a payee device 10, and whereinthe payment information 810 sent to the payee specifies the an iTunes®account belonging to the payor as being the selected payment account.The payment information 810 may further indicate amount or number ofcredits which the payor wishes to transfer to the payee as a payment. Inorder to transmit the iTunes® account information to the payee device10, a tap operation 814 between the payee device 10 and the payor device92 may be performed, thus establishing an NFC connection 812 throughwhich the payment information 810 may be transferred.

After receiving the payment information 810 on the payee device 10, thepayee may select the appropriate crediting account to which the payeewishes for the payment indicated by the payment information 810 to becredited. For example, in the illustrated scenario, the selectedcrediting account may be a respective iTunes® account belonging to thepayee. Thus, the payee's and the payor's iTunes® account information, aswell as the payment amount (e.g., in credits) specified in the paymentinformation 810, may be collectively represented by the transactioninformation block 816. Thereafter, the transaction information 816 maybe transmitted by the payee device 10 to the one or more financialservers 100, described above, for further processing of the transaction808.

As shown in FIG. 18, the one or more financial servers 100 in thepresent embodiment may be represented by an iTunes® server 818configured to maintain the respective iTunes® accounts belonging to thepayor and the payee. As discussed above, specifically with reference tothe transaction 378 depicted in FIG. 12C, when both a payment accountand a crediting account are held by the same entity or financialinstitution, it may not be necessary to communicate with an additionalexternal server (e.g., belonging to a different entity or financialinstitution) for authorization and processing of the transaction.

The transmission of the transaction information 816 to the iTunes®server 818 may occur by way of a network 820, which may be provided byany suitable networking interface available on payee device 10, such asthose specified by the communication interface block 56 in FIG. 3. Uponreceiving the transaction information 816, the iTunes® server 818 mayperform one or more verification actions, as indicated by referencenumeral 822, to verify that both of the iTunes® accounts are valid, andthat the payor's iTunes® account has at least a sufficient number ofcredits in order to satisfy the payment amount specified in the paymentinformation 810. If it is determined that both iTunes® accounts arevalid and that the payor's iTunes® account has sufficient credits, thenthe transaction may be processed, as indicated by reference numeral 824.Thereafter, the iTunes® server 818 may transmit, by way of the network820, a confirmation message to the payee device 10 notifying the payeethat the payee's iTunes® account has been credited with a payment.Additionally, as represented by reference numeral 826, upon receivingthe confirmation, the payee device 10 (or the iTunes® server 818) mayfurther be configured to transmit a receipt to the payor device 92, suchas an electronic receipt using the payor's e-mail address, acknowledgingthat payor's iTunes® account has been debited or charged for the amountspecified by the payment information 810, thereby concluding thetransaction 808. The above-described transaction 808 may be betterunderstood with reference to FIGS. 19A-19D, in which a plurality ofscreen images depicting the transaction 808 illustrated by FIG. 18A isillustrated.

Beginning first with FIG. 19A, it should be noted that these screens aregenerally identical to those described above with reference to FIG. 17A.For instance, beginning from the screen 110, the payor may initiate thetransaction process by selecting the graphical button 114. Thereafter,the screen 476 may be displayed, and the payor may further select thegraphical button 480 to specify that the transaction is to be initiateddirectly via the sending of the payment (e.g., without first awaitingfor a request form the payee, as discussed above in FIGS. 12A-12C). Uponselection of the graphical button 480, the payor may be advanced to thescreen 770, whereby the form fields 772 may be completed using the textkeyboard interface 160. Thereafter, by selection of the graphical button780, the user may be further advanced to the screen 786, which maydisplay the payee identity information 774, the payment amount 776, aswell as a brief description regarding the nature of the payment 778.Additionally, the screen 786 may further include identity informationpertaining to the payor 788, as well as display the presently selectedpayment method. As shown here, the payment method may initially beselected as the default payment account 554. Next, rather than selectingthe graphical button 790 to initiate the payment using the defaultpayment account 554, as described above in FIG. 17A, the payor mayselect the graphical button 792 in order to select the iTunes® accountdescribed in FIG. 18 as the selected payment method.

It should be noted that specified reason 778 for the present payment mayrepresent a cash or monetary sum of a debt owed to payee by the payor,and may not necessarily be related to one or more of the servicesoffered through the iTunes® service. Nevertheless, the present figuresillustrate how an agreement may be reached between the payor and thepayee to satisfy the debt using a non-cash asset, in this case, iTunes®credits.

Continuing to FIG. 19B, upon selection of the graphical button 792, thepayor may be advanced to the screen 566 previously described above withreference to FIG. 14E. As discussed above, the screen 566 may display aplurality of graphical buttons 570, 572, 574, 576, and 578, eachcorresponding to a payment category which may be selected by the payor.As shown in FIG. 19B, the payor may select the graphical button 574 inorder to proceed to the screen 828. The screen 828 may display a listing604 of all iTunes® accounts presently stored on the payor device 92.Accordingly, the payor may select the desired iTunes® account 830 foruse as a payment account in the present transaction 808.

Upon selection of the iTunes® account 830, the payor may be returned tothe screen 786 in FIG. 19B, which may be updated to reflect the selectediTunes® account 830 as the payment method. Thereafter, the payor mayselect the graphical button 832 in order to proceed to the screen 620.As discussed above, the payor device 92 may include one or more securityfeatures requiring that an authorization PIN code is first providedbefore transmitting payment information from the payor device 92. Forexample, as shown in the screen 620, the payor may be required to inputthe authorization PIN 624 into the text field 626. Once theauthorization pin code 624 is entered (e.g., via the numeric keyboardinterface 164), the payor may authorize the sending of the iTunes®account information 830 by selecting the graphical button 628.

Continuing now to FIG. 19C, the screens illustrated herein depict screenimages that may be displayed on the payee device 10 upon receiving theiTunes® payment account information 830. As discussed above, the receiptof the payment information 830 may be performed by establishing an NFCconnection through a tap operation 814, as depicted in FIG. 18. Uponreceiving the payment information 830, the notification screen 800 maybe displayed on the payee device 10. The screen 800 may include anotification message 802 informing the payee that a payment in theamount indicated by the reference numeral 776 has been received from thepayor 788. The screen 800 may further display the graphical buttons 804by which the user may proceed with additional steps to complete theprocessing of the transaction, and the graphical button 806, by whichthe user may choose to cancel the present transaction.

For example, by selecting the graphical button 804, the user may beadvanced to the screen 674, as described above in FIG. 14J. The screen674 may display the identity of the payee 774, the identity of the payor788, the amount of the requested payment 776, as well as the selectedpayment method, the iTunes® account 830. As will be understood, therequested payment amount may in terms of “credits” stored in the payor'siTunes® account 830. As shown in the screen 674 of FIG. 19C, thecrediting account may initially be selected as the default creditingaccount 216. Here, rather than selecting the graphical button 686 tocredit the payment to the default crediting account 216, the payee mayselect the graphical button 688 in order to select an alternatecrediting account.

Upon selection of the graphical button 688, the payee may be navigatedto the screen 836, which may be similar to the screen 566 describedabove in FIG. 19B, except that the functions provided by the screen 836relate to the selection of the crediting account rather than the paymentaccount. The screen 836 may include the prompt 838 instructing the payeeto select from one of the following crediting account categoriesrepresented by the graphical buttons 840, 842, 844, 846, and 848. Inorder to select a compatible account (in this case an iTunes® account)for receiving a payment sent by the payor, the user may select thegraphical button 844, thus advancing the user to the screen 850. Thescreen 850 may include a listing of all the iTunes® accounts stored onthe payee device 10. Accordingly, the payee may select the iTunes®account 852 as the crediting account in the present transaction 808.

Following the selection of the iTunes® account 852, the payee may bereturned to the screen 674. As shown in FIG. 19D, the updated screen 674may display the iTunes® account 852 as the selected crediting account.Additionally, the graphical button 686 may be replaced on the updatedscreen 674 with the graphical button 854. Upon selection of thegraphical button 854, the process of transmitting the transactioninformation 816 which, as discussed above, may include informationpertaining to the selected payment account 830 as well as the selectedcrediting account 852, may be transmitted to the iTunes® server 818 forprocessing of the payment initiated by the payer in FIGS. 19A and 19B.If the transaction fails to complete for one or more reasons, the screen700 may be displayed on the payee device 10. The screen 700 may notifythe payee the reason or reasons as to why the transaction failed. Forinstance, in the illustrated embodiment, the notification message 708may inform the payee that there were insufficient credits in the payor'siTunes® account 830 to satisfy the payment amount 776. Alternatively, ifthe transaction is successfully completed, the screen 712 may bedisplayed on the payee device 10. The screen 712 may include anotification message 714 notifying the payee that credits from thepayor's iTunes® account 830 have been credited to the payee's iTunes®account 852. The notification message 714 may also inform the payee thata receipt with regard to the completed transaction has been provided tothe payor.

In a further implementation of the present technique, the payment amountcould be directly credited to an iTunes® gift card. For instance, anaccount number associated with a gift card may be maintained by theiTunes® server 818. Upon receipt and authorization of the transactioninformation 816, the iTunes® server 818 may credit the payment amountwhich, may be in the form of iTune® credits, to the payee's iTune's giftcard account. Thus, the payee may use the gift card to add additionalgift credits to the payee's iTunes® account and/or redeem credits storedon the gift card for downloadable media content, such as music files,movie files, audio books, podcasts, etc.

While the above embodiments have been described with regard to theprocessing of transactions between two electronic devices, such as thepayee device 10 and the payor device 92, additional implementations ofthe presently described techniques may further include transactions inwhich the payee device 10 receives payment information from sourcesother than a portable or non-portable electronic device of the typegenerally represented by the payor device 92. For instance, referringnow to FIG. 20 a schematic diagram of a transaction 860 in which apayment is made by way of a smart card, illustrated here by referencenumeral 862, to a payee device 10 is illustrated. The smart card 862 maybe similar to a conventional credit card, but may further include astorage apparatus, such as a secured storage chip 864. The storage chip864 may be configured to store information pertaining to a credit cardaccount or a banking account (e.g., if the smart card 862 is a debitcard) represented by the information printed on the smart card 862. Forexample, the storage chip 864 may include the account numbercorresponding to the smart card, the name of the account holder, as wellas an expiration date associated with the smart card account, as well asany other relevant information pertaining to the payor's smart cardaccount.

In the illustrated embodiment, the storage chip 864 may communicate withan external device, such as the payee device 10, by way of an NFCconnection established via magnetic field induction using, for example,an RF signal. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, smartcards may be differentiated from the electronic devices (e.g., payeedevice 10, payor device 92) described above in that although the smartcard 862 includes an electronic component, namely the storage chip 864,the smart card 862 does not include a power source or a processingdevice that may generally be associated with electronic devices.Instead, the smart card 862 may rely on a built-in inductor to capturean RF signal that may be transmitted from the payee device 10, such asby way of the NFC device 46, and thereby use the RF signal totemporarily provide power to the electronic components of storage chip864 such that the data stored thereon may be transmitted to a receivingdevice. As will appreciated by those skilled in the art, thetransmission of information from a smart card may be in conformance withthe NFC techniques discussed above, as well as other known standards,such as ISO/IEC 14443 and ISO 15693, for example.

As shown in FIG. 20, the transaction 860 may be initiated by the paymentrequest 384. In initiating the payment request 384, the NFC device 46 ofthe payee device 10 may be powered on, activating the NFC interface 60and providing an RF signal. Accordingly, an NFC connection 388 may beestablished by tapping the active payee device 10 to the smart card 862.The smart card 862, upon detecting the RF signal being emitted from thepayee device 10, may use a portion of the signal to induce the storagechip 864 to transmit information, such as the smart card informationrepresented by the reference numeral 866, to the payee device by way ofthe NFC connection 388 established via the tap operation 386. In someembodiments, the RF signal may be rectified by the smart card 862

The payee device 10, upon receiving the smart card information 866, mayfurther require that the account holder, the payor, provide additionalverification information, such as providing an amount to be charged tothe smart card 862 and, in some embodiments, providing one or moresecurity verification actions. By way of example, one such securityverification action may require that the payor provide a cardverification valuation (CVV) corresponding to the smart card 862. TheCVV value may be printed on the smart card 862, but may be either nottransmitted from the storage chip 864, or not stored on the storage chip864 itself. Thus, as will be understood, these additional securityverification procedures may prevent the unauthorized initiation ofpayment from a smart card 862.

In addition to the smart card account information, the payment amount,and the above-described security information (e.g., the CVV code), thepayee may select an appropriate crediting account on the payee device10, as generally described above. Thereafter, this information,collectively referred to as the transaction information and representedby block 868, may be transmitted to the one or more financial servers100. Specifically, the transaction information 868 may be transmitted tothe financial server 380 by way of the network 870. The financial server380 may correspond to a financial institution holding or maintaining thecrediting account selected by the payee. The network 870 by which thetransaction information is transmitted, may include one of any suitablenetworks described above, such as those provided by the communicationinterfaces 56 of the payee device 10.

Upon receiving the transaction information 868, the financial server 380may further transmit the payor's smart card account information,represented here by the block 872, to the smart card server 874 by wayof the network 876, which again may be provided by any suitable networksuch as a LAN, a WAN, or a WLAN. The smart card server 874 may beassociated with a credit card provider, which maintains the accountcorresponding to the smart card 862. The smart card server 874 mayperform a one or more verification and/or authorization processes, asrepresented by the reference numeral 878, wherein the payor's smart cardaccount 872 is verified for validity and sufficiency of funds, forexample. Accordingly, if the payor's smart card account 872 isdetermined to be both valid and having the sufficient funds to completethe requested payment 384, the smart card server 874 may send anauthorization message to the financial server 380 by way of the network876.

Upon receiving the authorization message, the financial server 380 maycomplete the transaction, whereby the payor's smart card account 872 ischarged for an amount corresponding to the requested payment 384, andwherein the payee's selected crediting account is credited for thatamount. Once the transaction 860 is successfully processed, aconfirmation message 882 may be sent to the payee device 10 from thefinancial server 380. Additionally, as also depicted by the referencenumber 882, one of the one or more financial servers 100, such as thefinancial server 380 or the smart card server 874, may transmit areceipt to the payor acknowledging that the smart card account 872 hasbeen charged. In one embodiment, one of the one or more financialservers 100 may transmit an electronic receipt to an e-mail associatedwith the smart card account 872.

The processing of a transaction 860 between the payee device 10 and thesmart card 862, when applied to the method 328 depicted by FIG. 11A, maybe further understood with reference to FIG. 21A. Specifically, FIG. 21Adepicts certain steps of the method 328 in additional detail as appliedto the present embodiment. For instance, the step 334 of transmitting aninvoice to the payor may include, in the present embodiment, providing aphysical or verbal request for a payment, as depicted by step 888. Forinstance, the payee and payor may mutually agree upon the terms of thepayment before the smart card information 866 is transmitted to thepayee device. Once the terms of the payment have been agreed upon, thestep of acquiring payment information from the payor may includeinitiating an NFC connection between the payee device 10 and the smartcard 682, through which the smart card account information 866 stored onthe storage chip 864 may be transmitted to the payee device 10, asindicated by step 890. For example, this step may correspond to theestablishment of the NFC connection 388 by way of the tap operation 386,as illustrated above in FIG. 20.

Once the smart card information 866 has been transmitted from thestorage chip 864 of the smart card 862, it may be received by the payeedevice 10 using the NFC connection 388, as indicated by step 892. Uponreceiving the smart card information 866, a crediting account may beselected on the payee device 10 at step 338. Thereafter, at decisionstep 340, the smart card account information 866 as well as the selectedcrediting account information, may be transmitted to the one or morefinancial servers 100 for verification and processing, as depicted bystep 894. The process of verifying the smart card account 872 and thecrediting account may include the decision steps 896 and 898. Forexample, decision step 896 may include making a determination as towhether the smart card account and the selected crediting account arecompatible. As discussed above, in the present context, the term“compatible” refers to whether or not the crediting account isconfigured to receive a credit card payment from the smart card account.If it is determined at step 896, that the smart card account theselected crediting account are compatible, then the method 328 mayproceed to the decision step 898, in which it is further determined asto whether the smart card account 872 provided by the payor is valid andhas the sufficient funds (e.g., line of credit) to satisfy the requestedpayment 384. If it is determined that the smart card account is validand has sufficient funds, then the transaction may be processed, inwhich the payee receives the payment at step 346 of the method 328,thereafter completing the transaction 860 at step 348.

Returning to the decision steps 896 and 898, if it is determined thateither accounts are incompatible, or that the smart card account iseither invalid or lacks the sufficient funds to fulfill the requestedpayment, then the method may proceed to decision step 342 in which thepayee may determine whether or not to renegotiate the terms of thepayment. If the payee does not wish to renegotiate the terms of thepayment, then the transaction may be canceled at step 344.Alternatively, should the payee choose to revise the payment terms, thepayee may either acquire information from another smart card belongingto the payor, thus returning the method back to step 892, or the payeemay select an alternate crediting account at step 338. As will beappreciated, the renegotiation of the payment terms may depend on theoutcome of the decisions made at steps 896 and 898. Further, althoughnot illustrated in FIG. 21A, the renegotiation of payment terms at step342 may also include pursuing a transaction in which the paymentinformation is stored on an electronic device, such as the payor device92 described above in FIGS. 12A-C, and transmitted to the payee device10.

Continuing now to FIG. 21B, certain steps of the method 360 aredescribed in further detail from the view point of the payor inaccordance with the transaction 860 described above in FIG. 20.Specifically, FIG. 21B depicts, in further detail, the step 364 ofreceiving a payment request from the payee, and the step 366 ofproviding payment information to the payee. The step 364 of receiving apayment request may include receiving a physical request for a payment,as indicated by step 900. As discussed above, a physical request mayinclude a mutual agreement between the payee and the payor with regardto the terms of the payment to be made using the smart card 862.Thereafter, if the payment terms are satisfactory, the payor may acceptthese terms at step 902. At step 904, the payor may position the smartcard 862 within range of the payee device, which may include and NFCdevice 46. Thus, when the payee device powers on the NFC device 46, thusentering an active mode, the information stored on the storage chip 864,which may include the smart card account information 866, may betransmitted from the smart card 862 to the payee device 10 by way of anNFC connection 388 established via the tap operation 386. Thereafter,the method 360 may proceed to the decision step 368, as well as theremaining steps of the method fully depicted in FIG. 11B.

Continuing now to FIGS. 22A-C, a plurality of screen images depictingthe operation of the payee device 10 in performing the transactiondescribed in FIG. 20 is illustrated. Referring first to FIG. 22A, theprocess of initiating the transaction may begin with the selection thegraphical button 114 displayed on the screen 110. As discussed above,the screen 110 may represent a home screen for the transactionapplication (e.g., represented by the icon 34 on the home screen 29 ofthe payee device 10). By selecting the graphical button 114, the payeemay be advanced to the screen 476, as described above in FIG. 14A, whichmay display the graphical buttons 478, 480, and 482. In order toinitiate a payment request, the user may select the graphical button478, thus advancing the user to the screen 484. As discussed above inFIG. 14A, the screen 484 may display a plurality of graphical buttons,486, 488, and 490, each representing different techniques andfunctionalities of the payee device 10 for initiating the request of apayment. For example, the graphical button 486, as described above, mayrepresent the function for requesting a payment in accordance with thetransactions described above in FIGS. 12A-C. Here, rather than selectingthe graphical button 486, the payee may select the graphical button 488in order to indicate that the payment request is to be directed towardsa transaction involving at least one smart card 862.

Upon selection of the graphical button 488, the payee may be advanced tothe screen 910. The screen 910 may include a notification message 912instructing the payee that in order to complete the transaction, theowner of the smart card 862 (e.g., the payor) must perform at least onesecurity verification action, such as the providing of a CVV code, asdiscussed above. The screen 910 may further display the graphicalbuttons 914 and 916. The graphical button 914 may represent a functionby which the payment request is initiated by powering on the NFC device46. Additionally, the payee also has the option of canceling the paymentrequest by selecting the graphical button 916. Upon selection of thegraphical button 914, the NFC device 46 of the payee device 10 may bepowered on, thus enabling the NFC interface 60. Accordingly, the screen910 may be updated to display the notification message 918, generallyinforming the user that the NFC interface is currently active andfurther instructing the user to tap the payee device 10 to the payor'ssmart card 862.

Referring now to FIG. 22B, the establishment of an NFC connectionbetween the payee device 10 and the smart card 862 by way of the tapoperation 386 depicted in FIG. 20, is illustrated. As discussed above,the powering on of the NFC device 46 may place the payee device into ahost or active mode 392. As the active device 10 is place within anacceptable distance, represented by the distance 514, from the smartcard 862, which may be in a passive mode 390, an NFC connection 388 maybe established between the payee device 10 and the smart card 862.Accordingly, by magnetic field induction, the storage chip 864, whichmay store the smart card account information, may temporarily be poweredto transmit the smart card information to the payee device 10 by way ofthe established NFC connection 388. Returning now to FIG. 22A, thetransmission of the smart card account information 866 from the storagechip 864 may be depicted in the screen 910, which includes the updatednotification message 920, generally indicating to the payee that thesmart card information is being received by the payee device 10.

Once the smart card account information 866 has been transmitted to thepayee device 10, the screen 924 may be displayed. The screen 924 maydisplay the smart card account information 866, including the identityof the account holder 928, the account number 930, as well as anexpiration date associated with the account 932, for example. The screen924 may further display the presently selected crediting account, whichmay initially display the default crediting account 216, as describedabove with reference to FIG. 8. Additionally, the screen 924 may includethe graphical buttons 686, 688, and 690, described above with referenceto FIG. 14J. By selecting the graphical button 686, the payee may beadvanced to the screen 936, which may represent one or more of thesecurity verification actions required by the payor, as discussed above.

As illustrated in the screen 936, the text fields 938, 940, and 942 areprovided through which the payor may be required to enter the requesteddata. For instance, the payor may be required to enter the paymentamount in the text field 938. As discussed above, the payment amount maybe mutually agreed upon between the payee and the payor at step 888 inFIG. 21A. The payor may be further required to enter the CVV code on thesmart card into the text field 940. As discussed above, this step mayconstitute an additional measure of security, thus preventing theunauthorized of initiation of payments from the smart card 862, such asin instances where the smart card account information 866 stored on thestorage chip 864 was obtained without the payor's consent. The payor mayfurther be provided the option of entering an e-mail address into thetext field 942. For instance, the e-mail address may be transmitted toone or more financial servers 100, and subsequently used to provide thepayor with an electronic receipt if the transaction 860 is successfullycompleted. As displayed on the screen 936, the payor may enter theabove-discussed data into the text fields 938, 940, and 942 by way ofthe text keyboard 160. Additionally, for fields in which numericalinputs are required, the payor may access the numerical keyboard 164(not shown in FIG. 22C) by selecting the graphical button 162, asdiscussed above.

Once the information is entered into the text fields 938, 940, and 942,the payee may initiate the processing of the transaction by selectingthe graphical button 944. Alternatively, the payee may have the optionof canceling the transaction by selecting the graphical button 946.Thereafter, if the transaction fails to be processed successfully forone or more reasons, the screen 700 may be displayed on the payee device10. The screen 700 may display a notification message 948 informing thepayee as to the reason or reasons as to why the transaction failed. Asillustrated in FIG. 22C, the notification message 948 may indicate thatthe CVV code provided in the text field 940 of the screen 936 wasincorrect and, accordingly, the requested payment could not beauthorized. If the transaction is processed successfully, the screen 712may be displayed on the payee device 10. As discussed above in FIG. 14J,the screen 712 may display the notification message 714 generallyinforming the user that a payment in the amount specified in the textfield 938 has been applied to the selected crediting account 216. Thenotification message 714 may further inform the payee a receipt has beenprovided to payor, such as via the e-mail address specified in the textfield 942 of the screen 936.

Continuing now to FIGS. 23 and 24, the transactions 952 and 970 areillustrated, respectively, in accordance with a further aspect of thepresent disclosure. Specifically, the transactions 952 and 970 mayrepresent the functionality provided by the graphical button 490displayed on the screen 484, as discussed above with reference to FIG.14A. For instance, as will be described in further detail below, thetransactions depicted in FIGS. 23 and 24 may rely on the use of thecamera 48 on the payee device 10 to acquire an image of a paymentinstrument, such as a payor's magnetic credit card, or a check.

Referring now to FIG. 23, the transaction 952 may be initiated via theacquisition of an image of a payor's credit card 954. For example, thepayment request may originate by agreement between the payee and payor,in which the payor agrees to fulfill the requested payment using thecredit card 954. Accordingly, the payee may power on or activate thecamera device 48 on the payee device and acquire an image 956 of thepayor's credit card 954. Upon receiving the image 958, the payee device10 may process the image 956, such as by using an optical characterrecognition (OCR) technique, as mentioned above, to extract the creditcard account information corresponding to the credit card 954, asindicated by reference numeral 958.

Once the credit card account information corresponding to the creditcard 954 has been determined, such as by an imaging application adaptedto execute the OCR process, the payee may select an appropriatecrediting account. Thereafter, the crediting account information, theextracted credit card account information 958, as well as additionaldata, such as the amount of the requested payment, collectively referredto here by reference numeral 960, may be transmitted to the financialserver 380 discussed above by way of the network 416. As discussedabove, the financial server 380 may correspond to the banking providermaintaining the payee's selected crediting account. The financial server380 may initiate one or more of the authorization actions describedabove, such as with reference to FIG. 12A, which may includetransmitting the payor's credit card account information, illustratedhere by reference numeral 962, to an external credit card server 382 byway of the network 420. The credit card server 382 may correspond to acredit card provider that maintains the payor's credit card account 962.The credit card server 382 may process the credit card accountinformation 962 to determine whether the provided credit card account isa valid account having a sufficient line of credit to fulfill therequested payment, as indicated by the reference numeral 964.

If the credit card server 382 determines that a charge in the amountcorresponding to the requested payment to the specified credit cardaccount 962 may be authorized, then the credit card server 382 maytransmit an authorization message to the financial server 380 by way ofthe network 420. Upon receiving the authorization from the credit cardserver 382, the financial server may process the transaction 952, asgenerally indicated by the reference number 966. As discussed above, theprocessing of the transaction 952 may include charging the credit cardaccount 962 for the amount specified in the payment request, anddepositing or crediting a corresponding amount to the payee's selectedcrediting account. Once the transaction 952 has been completed, aconfirmation message may be transmitted to the payee device 10 by way ofthe network 416. Additionally, if the payor's e-mail address is known orprovided, an electronic receipt acknowledging the payment may also betransmitted to the payor.

The transaction techniques described above with regard to theacquisition of the image 956 representing the payor's credit card 954,may also be applicable to other types of payment instruments, such as acheck corresponding to a checking account held by the payor. Forinstance, continuing to FIG. 24, a transaction 970 is illustrated inwhich payment information in response to a payment request is acquiredusing the camera device 48 to obtain an image 974 of a check 972provided by the payor. Once the image 974 is received by the payeedevice 10, the check image 974 may be processed, as described above, toextract certain information from the check image 974, such as the nameor identity of the payor, a routing number corresponding to the payor'sbanking provider, the account number corresponding to the payor's bankaccount, as well as an identification number corresponding to thepayor's check 972. Once the above-discussed information has beenextracted from the check image, 974, the payee may select an appropriatecrediting account for receiving the requested payment. Thereafter, theinformation extracted from the check image 974, the selected creditingaccount, as well as the amount of the requested payment, collectivelyreferred to here by the reference numeral 980, may be transmitted to thefinancial server 380 by way of the network 416, as discussed above.

The financial server 380 may initiate one or more of the authorizationactions discussed above, which may include transmitting the payor'scheck information, such as the check information extracted during theimage processing step 976, to a check verification service, depictedhere by the reference numeral 984, by way of the network 420. As will beappreciated, a check verification service may perform one or more ofvarious functions relating to the validation or verification of checks.For example, a check verification service may offer this service tobanking providers, vendors, and retailers, by way of a subscriptionbased service, which may be accessed by either using a telephone, or byone or more of the networks generally described above. In someinstances, the check verification services described herein may beoffered or provided by the banking provider itself. In general, checkverification services, such as the check verification service 984, mayperform several functions, which may include verifying a payor'sidentity, as well as determining whether the payor has a history ofproviding bounced checks. Based on these records, the check verificationservice 984, may determine whether or not the check information 982provided may be verified and thus authorized to satisfy the requestedpayment. This verification process is represented here by the referencenumeral 986.

If the check verification service 984 determines that the requestedpayment may be carried out using the check information 982, the checkverification service 984 may transmit an authorization message to thefinancial server 380 by way of the network 420. Upon receiving theauthorization message, the financial server 380 may process thetransaction, as indicated by the reference numeral 988, whereby the bankaccount corresponding to the payor's check 972, is debited for theamount of the requested payment, and whereby the debited amount isfurther credited to the payee's crediting account. Once the transactionhas been completed, a confirmation message may be transmitted from thefinancial server 380 to the payee device 10 by way of the network 416,as indicated here by the reference numeral 990. Additionally, if thepayor had provided an e-mail address, an electronic receipt may betransmitted to the payor, as described above.

Various steps of the transactions 952 and 970 depicted in FIGS. 23 and24, respectively, may correspond to one or more of the steps describedin the method 328 and 360 in FIGS. 11A and 11B, respectively. Forinstance, the acquisition of the image 956 and the image 974 maycorrespond to the step 336 of acquiring payment information from thepayor. Additionally, the acceptance of a payment request and the act ofproviding either the credit card 954 or the check 972 may correspond tothe step 366 of providing payment information to a payee, as depicted inthe method 360. Referring now to FIGS. 25A and 25B, the above-emphasizedsteps 336 and 366, are depicted in further detail in accordance with thepresently illustrated embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 25A, the step 334 of transmitting or providing aninvoice, which may represent a payment request, to the payor may includethe step 888 of providing a physical request for a payment. For example,as discussed above with reference to FIG. 21A, the step 888 may includea mutual agreement between the payee and payor with regard to the termsof the payment before either the credit card 954 or the check 972 isprovided by the payor for image acquisition. Next, the step 336 of themethod 328, when performed in accordance with the presently illustratedembodiment, may include the steps 994 and 996. As shown in the presentfigure, the step 994 may correspond to the step of initiating the cameradevice 48 for the acquisition of an image.

Next, at step 996, an image may be acquired using the initiated cameradevice 48, and may reflect an image of either the credit card 958illustrated in FIG. 23, the check 972 illustrated in FIG. 24, or anyother type of payment instrument from which payment information may beextracted from an image thereof. Once the image has been acquired atstep 776, payment information may be extracted from the acquired image,as illustrated by the step 998. Thereafter, the payee may select anappropriate crediting account at step 338 and proceed to the decisionstep 340 for the authorization of the requested transaction. As shown inthe present figure, the decision step 340, when performed in accordancewith the presently illustrated embodiments, may include the steps 694,696, and 698, as discussed above with reference to FIG. 21A. Thus, itshould be understood that the transaction authorization steps that maybe performed with reference to the transactions 952 and 970 maygenerally be substantially identical to the authorization stepsdescribed in the above-discussed embodiments.

Referring now to FIG. 25B, the steps 364 and 366 of the method 360, whenperformed in accordance with the presently illustrated embodiment fromthe viewpoint of the payor, are illustrated in further detail. Forexample the step of receiving a payment request from the payee, asrepresented by reference numeral 364, may include the step 900 ofreceiving a physical request for a payment. As discussed above, thephysical request may include a mutual agreement between the payee andthe payor with regard to the terms of the payment to be made from eitherthe credit card 954 or the check 972. Next, the step of providingpayment information to the payee, as represented by the referencenumeral 366, may include the steps 902, 999, and 1000. For instance, asdiscussed above, if the terms of the requested payment are agreed upon,the payor may accept the payment request at step 902. Thereafter, thepayor may select a payment method at step 999, which may include thecredit card 954, the check 972, or any other type of suitable paymentinstrument. Once the desired payment method has been selected, the payormay provide the selected payment method to the payee device 10 for imageacquisition by the camera 48.

The transactions generally depicted by FIGS. 23 and 24, may now beexplained in further detail with reference to FIGS. 26A-26D and FIGS.27A-27G, which may illustrate various screen images depicting atechnique for operating the payee device 10 in order to carry out thetransactions 952 or 970, as depicted in FIGS. 23 and 24, respectively.Specifically, the screen images depicted in FIGS. 26A-26D may illustratethe acquisition of an image corresponding to the credit 954 of FIG. 23,and the subsequent processing of a transaction using the acquired image.FIGS. 27A-27G may generally depict the acquisition of an imagecorresponding to the check 972 of FIG. 24, and the subsequent processingof the transaction 970 from the viewpoint of the payee device 10.

Referring now to FIG. 26A, the initiation of the transaction 952described in FIG. 23 may include navigating through the screens 110,476, and 484, previously discussed above. For instance, beginning withthe screen 110, the payee may navigate to the screen 476 by selectingthe graphical button 114. Next, the payee may further navigate to thescreen 484 by selecting the graphical button 478 from the screen 476.The screen 484 may include the above-described graphical buttons 486,488, and 490. As discussed above, each of these graphical buttons mayrepresent various functionalities provided by the device 10 forinitiating the request of a payment. For instance, the graphical button486 may represent a function for initiating a payment request inaccordance with the techniques described above with reference to FIGS.12A-12C. The graphical button 488 may represent the functionality ofinitiating a payment request in accordance with the transactiontechniques described above with reference to FIG. 20. Here, the payeemay initiate a transaction in accordance with the techniques describedabove with reference to FIGS. 23 and 24 by selecting the graphicalbutton 490. Upon selection of the graphical button 490, the payee may beadvanced to the screen 1002, which may provide the payee with one ormore options, depicted by the graphical buttons 1004 and 1006, foracquiring payment information using the above-described imagerecognition techniques. As shown here, the graphical button 1004 mayrepresent a function by which the payee may acquire an image of a creditor debit card, such as illustrated in the transaction 952. Additionally,the graphical button 1006 may correspond to the function of acquiring animage of a check, such as the check 972, and will be described infurther detail below with reference to FIGS. 27A-27G.

Upon selection of the graphical button 1004, the camera device 48 of thepayee device 10 may be powered on and initiated for image acquisitionpurposes. Additionally, the payee may be advanced to the screen 1008,which as shown in FIG. 26A, may function as a viewfinder, represented bythe reference numeral 1009, displaying in real time, images beingdetected by the camera 48. The viewfinder 1009 may include theacquisition frames 1010, which may serve to provide the payee with ameans for centering an acquired image. As discussed above, once theterms of a payment request have been agreed upon, the payor may providea credit card (e.g., 954) to the payee device 10 for acquisition of animage by the camera device 48. For instance, as shown in the presentfigure, the payee may position the payee device 10 such that when viewedby the camera device 48, the credit card 954 is aligned with the imageacquisition frame 1010. Once the credit card 954 is aligned, the payeemay acquire an image of the credit card 1018 by selecting the graphicalbutton 1014. Additionally, the payee may have the option of cancelingthe image acquisition process by selecting the graphical button 1016.

Once an image of the credit card 952 has been acquired, the screen 1008may be updated to display the acquired image, referred to here by thereference numeral 1018. Accordingly, the payee may review the acquiredimage 1018 to determine whether the quality of the acquired imagegenerally meets the standards required for effective image processing.For example, the payee may determine whether the acquired image 1018 isproperly aligned with the acquisition from 1010, whether the image 1018is properly focused, or whether the image 1018 was acquired undersufficient lighting conditions. If the payee determines that theacquired image 1018 is suitable for image processing to extract thepayment information from the card 954, the user may initiate the creditcard information extraction process by selecting the graphical button1020. If the payee determines that the acquired image 1018 is not ofsufficient quality for image processing, the payee may select thegraphical button 1022 to return to the viewfinder 1009 for theacquisition of a subsequent image of the credit card 954.

The processing of the credit card image 1018 may be briefly explainedwith reference now to FIG. 26B. As discussed above, the processing ofimages acquired by the camera device 48 of the payee device 10 mayutilize one or more optical character recognition techniques for theextraction of text data from the acquired image. Additionally, in someembodiments, the image recognition techniques may further provide forthe recognition of certain images or graphics in the resulting acquiredimage. For instance, such image processing application may provide forthe recognition of brand logos or symbols that may identify acorresponding credit card provider or bank provider, for example.

As shown in FIG. 26B, an image recognition application, in accordancewith the presently described embodiment, may analyze the image 1018 todetermine one or more regions of interest. For example, based on theanalysis of the image 1018, the image processing application mayidentify the regions 1030, 1032, 1034, and 1036, as being regions ofinterest that may contain account information pertaining to the creditcard 954. For instance, the region 1030 may correspond to the identityof the credit card provider. The region 1032 may provide for a creditcard account number associated with the selected credit card 954.Further, the region 1034 may correspond to an expiration date associatedwith the provided credit card 954, and the region 1036 may correspond tothe identity of the payor and/or the holder of the credit card 954.

As will be appreciated, the accuracy of image processing and recognitionapplication may generally depend on the quality of the image beingprocessed, such as the image 1018. As illustrated in FIG. 26B, thereference numeral 1038 may represent a portion of the image 1018 in theregion 1032 that may be distorted or incomplete. For instance, this maybe due to artifacts in the resulting image 1018 acquired using thecamera device 48, as described in FIG. 26A, or may be due to physicaldamage or defect on the physical credit card 954 itself. For instance,through natural wear, one or more of the numbers or characters printedon the credit card 954 may be partially or entirely obscured ordistorted. By way of example, the character represented by the referencenumeral 1038, which may have originally represented the number “8”, mayappear distorted in the account number region 1032 of the acquired image1018. Due to these distortions, the image recognition application may beunable to identify the character 1038 as being the number “8.” As willbe explained in detail below, the present techniques may provide thepayee (or the payor) with the ability to review and correct theextracted payment information prior to submitting the transactioninformation for authorization and processing.

Continuing now to FIG. 26C, once the image processing steps described inFIG. 26B have been completed, the screen 1042 may be displayed on thepayee device 10. As shown here, the screen 1042 may display theinformation extracted from the credit card image 1018. For instance, thescreen 1042 may display the identity of the credit card provider 1030,the credit card account number 1032, an expiration date associated withthe payor's credit card 1034, and the identity of the payor 1036, asdiscussed above. Additionally, the screen 1042 may display the graphicalbuttons 1044, 1046, and 1048, each of which may correspond to specificfunctions that may be performed on the device 10.

Referring specifically to the credit card account number 1032 extractedfrom the image 1018, it should be noted that the presently displayedextracted account number 1032 is not accurate when compared to theactual account number printed on the credit card 952 due to thedistorted character 1038. Accordingly, the payee may edit the displayedextracted credit card information by selecting the graphical button1044. Upon selection of the graphical button 1044, the user may accessthe screen 1043, which may display a dropdown selection field 1050, aswell as the text fields 1052, 1054, and 1056. These fields may initiallybe populated with the corresponding extracted credit card information1030, 1032, 1034, and 1036 from the previous screen 1042 and may beindividually selected and edited by the payee or the payor using thedisplayed text keyboard 160 or the numerical keyboard 164 if necessary.

For instance, as shown in the present embodiment, the payee may use thenumerical keyboard 164 to edit the credit card account informationdisplayed in the text field 1054 in order to correct for the inaccuracythat may have resulted from the distorted character 1038 that in theacquired credit card image 1018. Accordingly, if the payee confirms thatthe edited credit card information is now accurate, the payee may selectthe graphical button 1058 to return to the screen 1042, in which thecredit card account number 1032 may be updated to reflect thecorrections made by the payee on the screen 1043. Thereafter, the payeemay proceed with the transaction process by selecting the graphicalbutton 1046, thus navigating to the screen 1060 in FIG. 26D.

As shown in the screen 1060, the credit card information extracted fromthe image 1018 and later edited by the payee, such as described in FIG.26C, is displayed and generally designated by the reference number 1062.Additionally, the screen 1060 may display a crediting account, which inthe present embodiment, may be the default crediting account 216, asdiscussed above. The screen 1060 may further display the graphicalbuttons 686, 688, and 690, which may represent the functions previouslydescribed with reference to the screen 674 depicted in FIG. 14J.Accordingly, in order to initiate the process of crediting a payment tothe crediting account based on the extracted card information 1062, thepayee may select the graphical button 686 to navigate to the screen1066.

As can be appreciated, the screen 1066 may essentially provideadditional security measures that must be addressed prior totransmitting the transaction information, such as to the financialservers 100. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, the screen 1066may include the text fields 1068, 1070, and 1072, as well as thegraphical buttons 1074 and 1076. Accordingly, the screen 1066 mayrequire that the payor provide the requested information to the fields1068, 1070, and 1072 prior to initiating the processing of the presenttransaction. For instance, the field 1068 may be used to enter a paymentamount corresponding to the request payment. The field 1070 may requirethat the payor provide a CVV number corresponding to the credit card952. As discussed above, the use of these additional authorizationmeasures may aid to prevent the occurrence of unauthorized charges, suchas those that may have been initiated based on the unauthorizedacquisition of credit card images.

Additionally, an e-mail address belonging to the payor may be providedin the text field 1072. As discussed above, the provided e-mail may beused to transmit a receipt or acknowledgement to the payor once thetransaction is complete. As discussed above, the entry of data into thetext fields 1068, 1070, and 1072 may be accomplished by way of the textkeyboard interface 160, or the numerical keyboard interface 164 (notshown in FIG. 26D). Once the information required by the text fields1068, 1070, and 1072 have been entered, the transaction authorizationprocess may be initiated by selecting the graphical button 1074.Additionally, the payor or payee may have the option of canceling thepresent transaction by selecting the graphical button 1076. If thetransaction is authorized and successfully processed, the screen 712 maybe displayed on the payee device 10. As discussed above, the screen 712may display a notification message 714 indicating to the payee therequested payment amount has been deposited to the specified creditingaccount 216, and that a receipt has been provided to the payor, such asvia the e-mail address provided in the text field 1072 of the screen1066.

Continuing now to FIGS. 27A-27G, one or more techniques for operatingthe payee device 10 in accordance with the transaction 970 describedabove with reference to FIG. 24 is explained by way of a plurality ofscreen images. As shown in FIG. 27A, the initiation of the camera device48 for the acquisition of a check image, such as an image correspondingto check 972, may require that the payee navigate through the abovediscussed screens 110, 476, and 484. For example, beginning with thescreen 110, the user may select the graphical button 114 to proceed tothe screen 476. There, the user may further navigate to the screen 484,by selecting the graphical button 478. From the screen 484, the user mayselect the graphical button 490 to navigate to the screen 1002, asdiscussed above in FIG. 26A. Here, rather than selecting the graphicalbutton 1004 to initiate the process for requiring a credit card image,the user may instead select the graphical button 1006 to begin theprocess for acquiring an image of a check.

As shown in FIG. 27A, the selection of the graphical button 1006 maynavigate the payee to the screen 1080. The screen 1080 may display thegraphical buttons 1082 and 1084. Each of these graphical buttonscorresponding to a respective technique for processing a check imageacquired in accordance with the presently described techniques.Specifically, the graphical button 1082 may represent a function forprocessing a full check image. As will be understood, in order toinitiate the processing of a full check image, an image of an entirecheck must be first acquired. As will be explained in further detailbelow, the use of the full check image processing function representedby the graphical button 1082 may be selected in circumstances where thecheck provided by the payor has the payment amount indicated on thecheck, and is signed by the payor and made out to the payee. Thus, itmay be necessary to process the full check image in order to extract theinformation relating to the amount of the payment indicated by the payoron the check.

For example, referring now to FIG. 27B, upon selection of the graphicalbutton 1082, the screen 1086 may be displayed on the payee device, andthe camera device 48 may be initiated for image acquisition, asdiscussed above. As shown in screen 1086, the view finder 1009associated with the camera device 48 may be displayed. The viewfindermay include the acquisition frame 1010. Accordingly, the payee mayposition the payee device 10, such that the entirety of the check 972 isaligned with the acquisition frame 1010. Once the check 972 is alignedwith the image frame 1010, the payee may select the graphical button1090 to acquire an image using the camera 48. Additionally, the sectionof the graphical button 1092 on the screen 1086 may allow for the payeeto cancel the image acquisition process if necessary.

Once the image of the check 972 has been acquired, the acquired image,represented here by the reference numeral 1096, may be displayed on thescreen 1086. As discussed above, the payee may evaluate the acquiredimage 1086 to determine whether the image is suitable for use by theimage processing application, as discussed above. If the payeedetermines that the acquired image 1096 fails to conform to one or morequality standards required by the image processing application, asdiscussed above, the payee may select the graphical button 1100 in orderto return to the viewfinder 1009 and acquire a subsequent image. If thepayee determined that the acquired image 1096 is suitable for processingby the image recognition application, the user may begin the imageprocessing steps by selecting the graphical button 1098.

The processing of the check image 1096 may be further explained withreference to FIG. 27C. As illustrated, the image processing applicationmay process the acquired image 1096 to determine various regions ofinterest, such as the regions designated by the reference numerals 1104,1106, 1108, and 1110. This process may be similar to the processdescribed above with regard to the processing of the credit card image1018 in FIG. 26B. Additionally, the image processing application mayalso designate the region 1112, which may correspond to a payment amountwritten on the check 972 by the payor, as a region of interest. As shownin FIG. 27C, the region 1104 may correspond to the identity of thepayor, and the region 1106 may correspond to a routing number that maybe used to identify the banking provider associated with the payor'sbank account number, which may be represented in the region 1108.Further, the image processing application may also designate the region1110 as corresponding to the check number associated with the providedcheck 972. Accordingly, as explained above, once the regions arerecognized by the image processing application, the informationcontained within the regions 1104, 1106, 1108, 1110, and 1112, may beextracted and displayed on the screen 1116, as illustrated in FIG. 27D.

As shown in the screen 1116, in addition to the check informationextracted from the image 1096, the screen 1116 may also display thegraphical button 1118, as well as the graphical buttons 1046 and 1048,which were previously described above with reference to FIG. 26C.Thereafter, in a manner similar to the editing process described abovewith reference to FIG. 26C, the user may select the graphical button1118 to edit the extracted information from the check image 1096 if anyportion of the information is determined to be inaccurate. If theextracted information is determined to be correct, as indicated in FIG.27D, the user may select the graphical button 1046 to access the screen1124.

As shown on the screen 1124, the information extracted from the checkimage, such as the information represented by the reference numerals1104, 1106, 1108, 1110, and 1112, is displayed and generally designatedby the reference numeral 1126. The screen 1124 may also display thesection of a crediting account, which as discussed above, may initiallybe selected as the payee's default crediting account 216. Further, thescreen 1124 may also display the graphical buttons 686, 688, and 690, asdiscussed above with reference to the screen 674 in FIG. 14J.Accordingly, to initiate the transaction authorization steps by whichthe payment account represented by the check information 1126 is chargedor debited for the payment amount 1112, the payee may select thegraphical button 686. It should be noted, that in the presentlyillustrated embodiment, that the security measures depicted above withreference to the screen 1066 of FIG. 26D, may not be required becausethe check 972 provided to the payee in the present embodiment has beenspecifically made out to the payee, thus indicating that the payor hadpreviously acquiesced to the payment request. Thereafter, if thetransaction is authorized and successfully processed, such as by the oneor more financial servers 100, the screen 712 may be displayed on thepayee device 10. As discussed above, the screen 712 may include thenotification message 714 indicating that the requested payment amounthas been credited to the selected crediting account 216.

Referring briefly back to FIG. 27A and, specifically to the screen 1080,the graphical button 1084 may represent an additional function providedon the payee device 10, in which the transaction 970 depicted above inFIG. 24, may be initiated by obtaining only a partial image of a check(e.g., as opposed to a full image). As will be explained in furtherdetail below, the functions provided by the graphical button 1084 may beused in circumstances in which the check provided by the payor is blank,whereby the transaction 970 may only be initiated upon receiving somesort of additional authorization from the payor, such as the providingof a bank account PIN number, for instance.

Continuing now to FIG. 27E, upon selecting the graphical button 1084,the screen 1080 may be updated to display the notification message 1132,and the graphical buttons 1134 and 1136. The notification message 1132may generally inform the payee that the present transaction may furtherrequire the providing of a banking account PIN number by the payor. Inorder to proceed with the acquisition of the partial check image, thepayee may select the graphical button 1134. Additionally, the payee mayhave the option of canceling the check image acquisition process byselecting the graphical button 1136. Upon selection of the graphicalbutton 1134, the user may be navigated to the above discussed screen1086, which may include the viewfinder 1009 associated with the cameradevice 48. As shown in the screen 1086, the viewfinder 1009 may includethe image acquisition frame 1010. Thus, the payee may position thedevice 10 such that the desired portion of the check 972 to be imaged iscontained in the region defined by the acquisition frame 1010. Once thedesired portion of the check 972 is properly aligned, the payee mayacquire an image of this portion of the check 972 by selecting thegraphical button 1090 on the screen 1086. Additionally, the payee mayhave the option of canceling the image acquisition step by selecting thegraphical button 1092.

Upon selection of the graphical button 1090, an image of the alignedportion of the check 972 may be acquired and displayed on the screen1086, as indicated by the reference numeral 1140. Here, in the mannersimilar to the screens 1086 described above with reference to FIG. 27B,the payee may evaluate the image 114 to determine if the quality of theacquired image is sufficient for processing by the image processingapplication. For example, if the image 1140 fails to meet one or morequality standards discussed above, the payee may select the graphicalbutton 1100 to reacquire a subsequent image of the check 972. If it isdetermined that the acquired image 1140 is suitable for processing bythe image processing application, the payee may initiate the paymentinformation extraction process by selecting the graphical button 1098.For example, referring now to FIG. 27F, the processing of the partialcheck image 1140 may generally be similar to the processing of the fullcheck image 1096, as described above with reference to FIG. 27C, exceptthat the partial check image 1140 does not contain the region 1112corresponding to the payment amount printed on the check 972 by thepayor. Thus, in the present embodiment, the image processing applicationmay process the partial check image 1140 to extract only the identity ofthe payor 1104, the routing number corresponding to the payor's bankingprovider 1106, the payor's bank account number 1108, as well as thecheck number 1110.

Once the partial check image 1140 is processed by the image recognitionapplication, the payee may be advanced to the screen 1116 illustrated inFIG. 27G. As shown in the screen 1116, the extracted check information,including the payor's identity 1004, the routing number of the bankingprovider associated with the selected payment account 1106, as well asthe bank account number 1108 and the check identification number 1110associated with the provided check 972, may be displayed. Additionally,the screen 1116 may also provide the graphical button 1118, which mayrepresent the same functionality described above with reference to FIG.27D, as well as the graphical buttons 1046 and 1048. Thus, if the checkimage information extracted from the image 1140 is determined by thepayee to be accurate, the payee may proceed to the selection of thecrediting account by selecting the graphical button 1046. For instance,the selection of the graphical button 1046 may navigate the payee to thescreen 1124, which may display the extracted check information providedon the previous screen 116, generally referred to here by the referencenumeral 1144, as well as the section of a crediting account, which mayinitially be selected as the default crediting account 216.Additionally, the screen 1124 may further include the graphical buttons686, 688, and 690, each of which may correspond to the functionsdescribed above with reference to screen 674 in FIG. 14J. Accordingly,to initiate the authorization and processing of the present transaction,in which a payment is credited to the payee's default crediting account216, the graphical button 686 may be selected, thereby advancing thepayee to the screen 1148.

The screen 1148 may be similar to the screen 1066 discussed above inFIG. 26D, in that one or more additional authorization steps may becompleted by the payor before the transaction may be processed. Forinstance, the illustrated screen 1148 may include the text fields 1150,1152, and 1154. Using either the keyboard interface 160 or the numericalkeyboard interface 164 (not shown in FIG. 27G), the payor may enter theamount of the requested payment into the text field 1150, as well as aPIN number associated with the bank account corresponding to theprovided check 972 into the text field 1152. Optionally, if the payorwishes to receive an electronic receipt upon completion of thetransaction, such as in the form of an e-mail, the payor may provide avalid e-mail address in the text field 1154. The screen 1148 may furtherinclude the graphical buttons 1156 and 1158. Accordingly, once therequired information is entered into the text fields 1150, 1152, and1154, the graphical button 1156 may be selected in order to initiate theauthorization and processing of the present transaction. Additionally,the transaction may be cancelled at this point by selecting thegraphical button 1158.

As discussed above, if the transaction is completed successfully, thescreen 712 may be displayed on the payee device 10. The screen 712 mayinclude the notification message 714 notifying the payee that therequested payment has been credited to the selected crediting account216, and that a receipt regarding the present payment has beentransmitted to the e-mail address provided by the payor in the textfield 1154 of the screen 1148. Alternatively, if the transaction failsfor one or more reasons, the screen 700 may be displayed on the payeedevice instead. In the present figure, the screen 700 may include thenotification message 1160, which may indicate that the pin numberprovided by the payor in the text field 1152 in the previous screen 1148does not match the pin number contained within the records maintained bythe banking provider. Accordingly, the payee may be instructed torequest that the payor either reenter or verify the pin number enteredon the screen 148. It should be understood that the notification message1160 is meant to illustrate one example of why the present transactionmay fail. Indeed, any of the reasons discussed above may contribute to atransaction failing to process successfully (e.g., lack of sufficientfunds on payment account, etc.).

Continuing now to the remaining figures, additional aspects of thepresently described techniques are illustrated. As discussed above, theelectronic device 10 may include one or more functions adapted to carryout a group transaction involving one or more payors. For example, asdiscussed above with reference to FIG. 14A, the graphical button 482 maybe selected from the screen 476 to carry out a group transaction.Referring now to FIG. 28, a schematic representation of the system forperforming a group transaction in accordance with one aspect of thepresent disclosure is illustrated and generally referred to by thereference number 1170. As illustrated in the present figure, the grouptransaction 1170 may include a primary transaction, designated by thereference numeral 1172, as well as one or more secondary transactions,as designated by the reference numeral 1174.

In the primary transaction 1172, the electronic device 10 which may actas the initiating device for the group transaction 1170, and may assumethe role of a payor in making a payment to the vendor device 1176.Thereafter, the initiating device 10 may act as a payee and receiveadditional payments from the holders of the payor device 92, the smartcard 862, and the magnetic credit card 954. For the purpose of thepresent discussion, and to more clearly differentiate between theholders of each of these payment instruments, the holder of the magneticcredit card 954 shall be referred to herein as the credit card payor.Similarly, the holder of the smart card 862 shall be referred to hereinas the smart card payor, and the holder of the payor device, which maybe an NFC enabled device in accordance with the embodiments discussedabove, shall be referred to herein as the NFC payor. As will beexplained in further detail below, the payments made to the initiatordevice 10 by the credit card payor, the smart card payor, and the NFCpayor, may be in response to a payment owed to the vendor. For example,the presently illustrated transaction 1170 may occur in the context inwhich one party (e.g., the initiator) initially pays for a group invoicecontaining amounts owed by each of the illustrated parties, and in whichthe remaining parties later provide a payment to the initiating party.

By way of example, the present technique may be utilized in a settingwhere the parties illustrated in FIG. 28 wish to split a bill or invoiceat a restaurant. In the primary transaction 1172, the initiator device10 may act as the payor with respect to the vendor device 1176, whichmay be a device operated by personnel associated with the restaurant. Asdiscussed above, the initiator device and the vendor device 1176 mayestablish an NFC connection 1178 by which a group invoice 1180 may betransmitted from the vendor device 1176 to the initiator device 10.Thereafter, the initiator may select an appropriate payment account onthe initiator device, which may be the default payment account 180, asdescribed above with reference to FIG. 7. Once selected, the paymentaccount information 1182 may be transmitted to the vendor device 1176 byway of the NFC connection 1178.

Upon receiving the payment information 1182, the vendor device 1176,which may act as the payee device in the primary transaction 1172, mayselect a crediting account and then transmit the crediting accountinformation, the payment account information 1182, as well as therequested payment amount correspond to the group invoice 1180,collectively referred to here by the reference number 1184, to one ormore financial servers 100, as discussed above. As shown in the presentfigure, the transmission of the transaction information 1184 may occurby way of a network designated by the reference number 1186. The network1186 may include any of the suitable networks mentioned above, such as aLAN or a WLAN network connection, for example.

Once the transaction information 1184 is received, the financial servers100 may process and authorize the requested transaction and, if thetransaction is authorized, a payment 1188 may be provided to the vendor.For example, once the primary transaction 1172 is authorized by thefinancial servers 100, the amount requested in the group invoice 1180may be charged from the payment account 1182 specified by the initiatordevice 10 and credited to a crediting account specified on the vendordevice 1176. Accordingly, the primary transaction 1172 may be completedat this point, and the initiator device 10 may have the option ofproceeding with the secondary transactions 1174. As discussed above, thesecondary transactions 1174 may include transactions involving the NFCdevice 92, the smart card 862, and the magnetic credit card 954. Itshould be appreciated, however, that additional devices or paymentinstruments may also be included in the secondary transaction 1174 inother embodiments, and need not necessarily be limited to the examplesprovided herein.

As shown in FIG. 28, once the primary transaction 1172 has beencompleted, the initiator device 10 may transmit the current invoice 1192to the NFC payor device 92 by way of an ad-hoc network, designated bythe reference numeral 1194. Initially, the current invoice 1192 may beidentical to the group invoice 1180. Before requesting the payment fromthe group transaction members (e.g., the credit card payor, the smartcard payor, and the NFC payor), the initiator may apportion the groupinvoice 1180 in accordance with the amounts owed by each transactionmember. As will be illustrated below, the apportioning of the invoiceitems may be updated in real time and viewed on the current invoice1192, which may be displayed on the NFC payor device 92. Additionally,the current invoice 1192 may also be updated in real time to reflectpayments received by the initiator device 10.

Once the group invoice 1180 has been apportioned by the initiator on theinitiator device 10, the amounts owed by each of the credit card payor,the smart card payor, and the NFC payor, may be communicated to theseparties as a partial invoice. By way of example, the initiator devicemay begin the process of receiving payments by establishing an NFCconnection 1196 with the NFC payor device 92 to transmit the partialinvoice 1198 to the NFC payor. As will be appreciated, the partialinvoice 1198 may reflect the portion of the group invoice 1180 owed tothe initiator by the NFC payor. Thus, in accordance with the techniquesgenerally described above with respect to the embodiments depict inFIGS. 12A-12C, a payment account may be selected on the NFC payor device92 and, thereafter, be transmitted to the initiator device 10, asillustrated by the reference numeral 1200.

Upon receiving the payment information 1200 from the NFC payor device92, the initiator device 10 may select a crediting account and transmitthe payment information 1200, the crediting account information, as wellas the amount reflected in the partial invoice 1198, collectivelyreferred to here as the transaction request information 1202, to thefinancial servers 100 by way of the network 1204. As will be understood,the network 1204 may be provided by way of one or more of thecommunication interfaces available on the device 10, as discussed above.Thereafter, if the financial servers 100 determine that the transactionrequest represented by the transaction information 1202 may beauthorized, then a payment 1206 may be credited to the crediting accountselected by the initiator device 10. Additionally, as discussed above,the payments made by any of the payors in the secondary transaction maybe updated in real time on the current invoice 1192 being viewed by theNFC payor. For example, each payment 1206 received by the initiatordevice may also be reflected on the current invoice 1192, as indicatedby the arrow 1208.

Once the initiator device 10 has received the first payment from the NFCpayor device 92, the initiator device 10 may continue to receive theremaining payments from the smart card payor and the credit card payor.For example, in accordance with the techniques described above withreference to the transaction 860 depicted in FIG. 20, the initiatordevice may receive the smart card information 1210 corresponding to thesmart card 862 by way of the NFC connection 1196 through a tapoperation. Additionally, the initiator device 10 may acquire an image1212 of the magnetic credit card 954 in accordance with the techniquesdescribed above with reference to the transaction 952 depicted in FIG.23. Accordingly, the initiator device 10 may then transmit the smartcard information 1210, as well as the payment information that may beextracted from the image 1212, to the financial servers 100 by way of anetwork 1204 for authorization of these additional secondarytransactions. Accordingly, if these transactions are authorized by thefinancial servers 100, respective payments from the credit card payorand the smart card payor, also referenced here by the numeral 1206, maybe credited to a crediting account selected by the initiator device 10.Additionally, the current invoice 1192 being viewed by the NFC payor 92may be updated to reflect the processing of these additional paymentsfrom the credit card payor and the smart card payor, as indicated by thereference numeral 1208.

Continuing now to FIG. 29, a method 1220, which may depict a techniquefor operating the initiator device 10 to carry out the group transaction1170 discussed in FIG. 28, is illustrated. As shown in step 1222, agroup transaction may be initiated by the initiator device 10.Thereafter, at step 1224, the initiator may receive and pay a groupinvoice, such as the group invoice 1180. As discussed above, inaccordance with one embodiment, the receipt and payment of the groupinvoice by the initiator device 10 may occur by way of the NFCconnection 1178. Once the group invoice has been paid by the initiatordevice 10, the method 1220 may proceed to step 1226, whereby theinitiator may identify and interface with the additional grouptransaction members, which may include the credit card payor, the smartcard payor, and the NFC payor, as discussed above. Next, the initiatormay proceed to apportion the items listed on the group invoice to theappropriate group transaction member. For instance, the initiator mayselect a first invoice item at step 1228, and apportion the selecteditem to the appropriate group transaction member at step 1230. As shownby the subsequent decision block 1232, the initiator may continue theapportioning process until all the invoice items listed on the groupinvoice 1180 have been properly apportioned to the correct grouptransaction member.

Thereafter, the initiator may begin the process of collecting paymentsfrom each of the group transaction members. For example, the initiatormay select a first group transaction member at step 1234. Next, at step1236, a partial invoice corresponding to the selected member from step1234 may be communicated. For example, the partial invoice may becommunicated to the NFC payor device 92 by way of the NFC connection1196 discussed above. Additionally, the partial invoices may also becommunicated verbally, for example, to the credit card payor and thesmart card payor. Upon receiving the partial invoice, the respectivepayor may select a payment account and provide the payment accountinformation to the initiator. For instance, as illustrated by step 1238,the initiator may collect the payment information from the selectedgroup transaction member and then process the transaction, such as bytransmitting the transaction request to the financial servers 100. Asdiscussed above, if the requested transaction is authorized by thefinancial servers 100, a corresponding payment may be made to acrediting account specified by the initiator.

Thereafter, as shown by the decision step 1240, the initiator device maycontinue to collect payments until a payment has been received from eachof the group transaction members. Accordingly, once all payments havebeen received, the group transaction may be completed at step 1242. Itshould be noted, that the steps 1222 and 1224 discussed above maycorrespond to the primary transaction 1172, and that the remaining steps1126-1242 may correspond to the secondary transaction 1174 as indicatedabove in FIG. 28.

The above-described group transaction 1170 may be better understood withreference to FIGS. 30A-30L, which may generally depict various screenimages that may be displayed on either the initiator device 10 or theNFC payor device 92 during the course of the group transaction 1170. Forexample, referring first to FIG. 30A, the primary transaction 1172 maybe initiated on the initiator device 10 beginning with the screen 110.Next, the initiator may select the graphical button 114 to navigate tothe screen 476, which may display the graphical button 482, as discussedabove. Accordingly, the initiator may access the group transactionfunctions provided by the device 10 by selecting the graphical button482, thus advancing to the screen 1270. The screen 1270 may display thegraphical buttons 1272, 1274, and 1276. Each of these graphical buttonsmay represent specific functions, as discussed above. For instance, thegraphical button 1272 may represent a function by which the initiatormay initiate the group transaction 1170. Similarly, the graphical button1274 may allow the initiator to join an existing group transaction, suchas a group transaction that may have been previously initiated byanother member. Additionally, the initiator may cancel the grouptransaction by selecting the graphical button 1276.

As shown in the present figure, the selection of the graphical button1272 may navigate the initiator to the screen 1278. The screen 1278 mayprovide for the selection of various options with respect to the grouptransaction. For example, a first option may be provided in which theinitiator may pay a group invoice, such as the group invoice 1180, as aprimary transaction (e.g., 1172), and thereafter apportion of theinvoice among additional transaction members and collect payments fromeach of these transaction members as a series of secondary transactions(e.g., 1174). This may be the scenario generally described by the grouptransaction 1170 in FIG. 28.

As shown in the screen 1278, an additional group transaction option inwhich the initiator may directly split an invoice among one or moreother transaction members may be provided. This situation will befurther explained with reference to FIG. 32 below. The options depictedon the screen 1278 may be represented by the graphical elements 1280 and1282, which may represent check box graphic icons, by which theinitiator may select the appropriate option. For instance, asillustrated in the present figure, the initiator may select the checkbox 1280 to indicate that the present transaction is to be performed inaccordance with the techniques discussed above in FIG. 28. Once theoption 1280 is selected, the initiator may select a graphical button1284 in order to begin the group transaction 1170.

Upon selection of the graphical button 1284, the user may be advanced tothe screen 1288, by where the primary transaction discussed above, andreferred to the reference numeral 1172, may begin. For instance, thescreen 1288 may represent the initiation of the NFC connection 1178. Thescreen 1288 may also include the notification message 1290, which mayindicate to the initiator that the NFC device 46 of the initiator device10 is being powered on, thus activating the NFC interface 60, asdiscussed above. The screen 1288 may also include the graphical button1292 by which the initiator may select to cancel the establishment ofthe NFC connection 1178 if necessary.

Upon establishment of the NFC connection 1178, the initiator device 10may receive the group invoice 1180 from the vendor device 1176 withwhich the NFC connection 1178 has been established. For example, oncethe group invoice 1180 has been received by the initiator device 10, thescreen 1288 may be updated, as depicted in FIG. 30B, to display thenotification message 1296. As shown here, the notification message 1296may inform the initiator that the group invoice 1180 has been received.Accordingly, by way of the graphical buttons 1298 and 1300, theinitiator may either accept or decline the received group invoice 1180.To accept the group invoice, the initiator may select the graphicalbutton 1298 to navigate to the screen 1304. The screen 1304 may displaythe identity of the initiator 1306, the identity of the vendor 1308, aswell as the amount requested by the group invoice, referred to here bythe reference number 1310. As will be explained below, the amount 1310may reflect a subtotal prior to the addition of a gratuity amount. Forexample, the present embodiment may be reflected in a scenario where thevendor is a restaurant and the invoice reflects a restaurant bill.Accordingly, the graphical buttons 1312 and 1314 are also provided onthe screen 1304 by which the initiator may choose to specify a gratuityamount, or view the invoice details, respectively.

The screen 1308 may further display the presently selected paymentaccount, which may be initially selected as the default payment account180 specified by the initiator, as discussed above in FIG. 7.Accordingly, the graphical buttons 1318, 1320, and 1322 may be providedwherein the graphical button 1318 represents the function by which theinitiator may pay the invoice using the presently selected defaultpayment account 180, wherein the graphical button 1320 represents afunction by which the initiator may select an alternate payment account,and wherein the graphical button 1322 may allow the initiator to cancelthe present transaction.

As shown in FIG. 30B, the initiator may view the group invoice 180 byselecting the graphical button 1314, thus navigating to the screen 1326.The screen 1326 may include a section that generally lists all the groupinvoice items, referred to here by the reference numeral 1330.Additionally, the scroll bar function 1332 may be provided on the screen1326 such that the initiator may navigate through the listing of theinvoice items 1330 if the listing cannot be viewed in its entirety inthe provided display section. In addition to the listing of the invoiceitems 1330, the screen 1326 may also list any applicable tax amount1328. As will be appreciated, the sum of the invoice items 1330 and thetax amount 1328 may be summed to obtain the subtotal 1310 discussedabove. The screen 1326 may additionally display a gratuity amount 1334,which may initially be zero prior to the addition of a gratuity amountby the initiator. Accordingly, the subtotal for the group invoice 1310and any gratuity amount 1334 may be summed to determine the total amountof the group invoice 1336. Further, the graphical buttons 1338 and 1340may also be provided on the screen 1326, in which the graphical button1338 may provide the initiator with the function of proceeding to paythe displayed invoice based on its current status. Additionally, thegraphical button 1340 may be selected if the initiator chooses tospecify the gratuity amount 1334.

For example, if the graphical button 1340 is selected, the initiator maybe navigated to the screen 1350 for the addition and selection of agratuity amount. The screen 1350 may display the current subtotal of thegroup invoice 1310, and provide the initiator with the text field 1352by which the initiator may enter a desired gratuity amount. Forinstance, the initiator may choose to enter the gratuity amount usingthe numerical keyboard 164, or may select a pre-calculated gratuityamount, as provided by the graphical buttons referred to here by thereference numeral 1354. As shown here, the pre-calculated gratuityamounts represented by the graphical buttons 1354 may correspond tocertain percentages of the current subtotal amount 1310. By way ofexample, in the present figure, the initiator may select the graphicalbutton which corresponds to a gratuity that is 20% of the currentsubtotal 1310. As illustrated here, upon selection of theabove-discussed gratuity amount 1334, the text field 1352 may bepopulated to reflect the selection. Additionally, the total amount 1336for the group invoice 1080 may be updated to reflect the addition of thegratuity amount 1334. For example, the current group invoice total 1336may be computed by summing the above-discussed subtotal amount 1310 andthe presently selected gratuity amount 1334. Thereafter, the initiatormay select the graphical button 1356 to accept the selected gratuityamount and the corresponding updated group invoice total amount 1336, ormay cancel the present transaction by selecting the graphical button1358. As illustrated in the present figure, the selection of thegraphical button 1356 may return the user to the screen 1326, which maybe updated to display the selected gratuity amount 1334 and the updatedtotal amount for the group invoice 1336. If the initiator is satisfiedwith the current group invoice total amount 1336, the initiator mayselect the graphical button 1338 to proceed with the payment of thegroup invoice amount 1336.

Referring to FIG. 30C, the selection of the graphical button 1338 mayreturn the initiator to the screen 1304, which may be updated to reflectthat the group invoice amount 1336 has been updated to include theaddition of the gratuity amount 1334 specified from the screen 1350.Accordingly, the initiator may initiate the payment of the group invoicetotal 1336 using the default payment account 180 by selecting thegraphical button 1318. As discussed above, the selection of thegraphical button 1318 may transmit the payment account information 1182to the vendor device 1176 by way of the NFC interface 1178. Accordingly,the vendor device 1176 may transmit the present transaction request 1184to the financial servers 100 in order to process and authorize therequested payment.

As shown in FIG. 30C, if the primary transaction 1172 is authorized bythe financial servers 100, the screen 1362 may be displayed on theinitiator device 10. The screen 1362 may display the notificationmessage 1364 indicating to the initiator that the group invoice 180 hasbeen paid using the selected default payment account 180. Additionally,the screen 1362 may include the graphical buttons 1366 and 1368. Thegraphical button 1368 may represent the function by which the user mayend or cancel the transaction. The graphical button 1366 may allow theuser to apportion the group invoice 1180, and thus initiate thesecondary transactions 1174 discussed above with reference to FIG. 28.As shown in FIG. 30C, upon selection of the graphical button 1366, thescreen 1370 may be displayed. The screen 1370 illustrates theestablishment of an ad-hoc network, such as the network 1194. Asdiscussed above, capable devices, such as the NFC payor device 92 mayjoin the established ad-hoc network in order to view the current invoice1192, as well as updates that may be made to the current invoice 1192during the various steps performed during in the secondary transactions1174.

The screen 1370 may display the identity of the initiator 1306, as wellas apply an identification name to the present group transaction, asindicated here by the reference numeral 1372. As shown here, thetransaction identifier 1372 may be identical to the recipient 1308 (“ABCRestaurant”) of the payment in the primary transaction illustrated byFIGS. 30A and 30B. Additionally, the screen 1370 may include thegraphical buttons 1376 and 1378. The graphical button 1378 may allow theinitiator to cancel the establishment of the ad-hoc network, forexample, if none of the other transaction members, such as the creditcard payor and the smart card payor, are using devices capable ofconnecting to an ad-hoc network. If the group transaction 1170 doesinclude at least one device capable of joining the ad-hoc network, suchas the presently illustrated device 92, the initiator may wait for thedevice 92 to join the network before selecting the graphical button 1376to begin the process of apportioning the group invoice 1180.

The process of connection to the ad-hoc network 1194 with respect to theviewpoint of the NFC payor device 92 may be illustrated with referenceto FIG. 30D. For example, in order to join the ad-hoc networkestablished by the initiator device 10, as described in FIG. 30, the NFCpayor may select the graphical button 114 from the screen 110. It shouldbe noted that the screens depicted in FIG. 30D may be similar to one ormore of the screens discussed above with reference to the initiatordevice 10. Thus, it should be understood that the transactionapplication provided on the initiator device, such as the application34, may also be provided on the payor device 92 in the presentembodiment. Upon selection of the graphical button 114, the payor may beadvanced to the screen 476. To access a group transaction functionprovided on the NFC payor device 92, the payor may then select thegraphical button 482 thus navigating to the screen 1270. Here, the payormay operate the NFC payor device to join the ad-hoc network discussedabove by selecting the graphical button 1274.

As shown in FIG. 30D, the selection of the graphical button 1274 maynavigate the NFC payor to the screen 1380. The screen 1380 may displaythe identity of the payor 1382, as well as display a listing ofavailable ad-hoc networks, which may represent ongoing grouptransactions. For example, the network established by the initiator anddescribed in FIG. 30C, is listed here and referred to by the referencenumeral 1384. Thus, the payor may select the listed network 1384, suchas by way of the check box selection graphic 1385, and join the selectednetwork by selecting the graphical button 1386. Additionally, the NFCpayor may also have the option of declining to join the ad-hoc networkby selecting the graphical button 1388. As will be understood, if thelatter is selected, the NFC payor may still participate in the grouptransaction 1170, but may be unable to view any real time updates to thecurrent invoice 1192.

Once all capable devices have joined the ad-hoc network 1194 establishedby the initiator device 10, the apportioning of the group invoice itemsmay begin. For example, referring now to FIG. 30E, the screen 1370discussed in FIG. 30C may be updated to indicate that the NFC payor,represented here by the reference numeral 1382, has joined theestablished ad-hoc network. Accordingly, because no other payor devicesare participating in the present transaction, the initiator may selectthe graphical button 1376 to navigate to the screen 1400 to beginapportioning the group invoice items 1330.

As illustrated in the screen 1400, a listing of the group transactionmembers may be displayed. As shown here, the listing 1402 may initiallyonly include the initiator and the NFC payor, who is presently connectedto the initiator device 10 by way of the ad-hoc network 1194. The screen1400 may also display a listing of the group invoice items 1330. Asdiscussed above, a scroll bar function, represented by the graphic 1404,may be provided on the screen 1400 if the listing of the group invoiceitems 1330 may not be displayed in its entirety due to screen sizelimitations. Next, in order to add the remaining transaction members tothe present group transaction, the initiator may select the graphicalbutton 1406. Upon selection of the graphical button 1406, the initiatormay be navigated to the screen 1410 which may display the text field1412 and the graphical button 1414, as well as the text keyboard 160.Thus, the initiator, by way of the text keyboard 160, may enter theidentity of the credit card payor into the text field 1412. Once theidentity of the credit card payor has been entered, the initiator mayadd the credit card payor to the present transaction by selecting thegraphical button 1414. As shown in FIG. 30E, the selection of thegraphical button 1414 may cause a pop-up window 1420 to be displayed onthe screen 1410. The pop-up window 1420 may notify the initiator thatthe credit card payor has been added to the present transaction and mayfurther provide the initiator with the graphical buttons 1422 and 1424.For example, as illustrated here, the selection of the graphical button1422 may close the pop-up window 1420 and allow the initiator tore-access the screen 1410 to add an additional member, such as the smartcard payor. Thus, the initiator may repeat the steps discussed above andenter the identity of the smart card payor into the text field 1412. Byselecting the graphical button 1414 again, the pop-up window 1426 may bedisplayed on the screen 1410 notifying the initiator that the smart cardpayor has also been added to the present transaction 1170. Accordingly,because all of the group transaction members illustrated in thesecondary transaction 1174 of FIG. 28 have now been added, the initiatormay return to the screen 1400 by selecting the graphical button 1424.

Continuing now to FIG. 30F, the apportioning of one of the group invoiceitems 1330 by the initiator is illustrated. As shown in the presentfigure, the screen 1400 may display an updated listing of thetransaction members 1402, which may include the credit card payor andthe smart card payor added using the techniques described in FIG. 30E.Next, the initiator may apportion the group invoice item 1430 byselecting the location of the item 1430 on the screen 1400, such as byusing a finger or other object, such as a stylus, and, while maintainingcontact with the display 24 of the initiator device 10, move theselected invoice item 1430 to the location on the screen 1400corresponding to the appropriate transaction member. As will beunderstood, this operation may commonly be referred to in the context ofgraphical user interfaces as a “drag and drop” operation. Additionally,as shown on the screen 1400, the initiator may select the graphicalbutton 1428 if the initiator chooses to split the entire group invoice1080 equally among the transaction members 1402. For example, theselection of the graphical button 1428 may divide the group invoicetotal 1336 equally among the initiator, the NFC payor, the credit cardpayor, and the smart card payor. Further, while the drag and dropillustration depicted in the present figure represents oneimplementation that may be provided on a device in accordance with thepresently described techniques, it should be understood that any type ofsuitable interfacing technique for apportioning the group invoice items1330 may be used in the present transaction.

Continuing to FIG. 30G, the screen 1400 may be updated to indicate thatthe invoice item 1430 has been apportioned to the initiator. Asillustrated in the present figure, the apportioning of the group invoiceitems 1330 may also include the automatic apportioning of the tax andgratuity amount represented here by the reference numerals 1328 and1334, respectively, based on the proportional amount of the cost of theapportioned invoice item 1430 compared to the total invoice amount 1336.It should be appreciated, however, that alternate techniques forapportioning the tax amount 1328 and the gratuity amount 1334, includingalternate schemes for an automatically apportioning these amounts, aswell as techniques for manual apportionment of these amounts by theinitiator, are also within the scope of the present disclosure. Next,the initiator may continue to apportion the remaining group invoiceitems 1330. For example, FIG. 30G further illustrates the apportioningof the invoice item 1432 to the initiator on the listing 1402, as wellas the subsequent automatic apportionment of any additional tax andgratuity amount in accordance with the techniques discussed above.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the need may ariseto apportion a particular invoice item amongst two or more of thetransaction members 1402. By way of example, a particular invoice itemmay have been shared by each of the transaction members 1402.Accordingly, a shared invoice item may be apportioned by selecting thegraphical button 1436. The selection of the graphical button 1436 maynavigate the initiator to the screen 1438. The screen 1438 may generallydisplay a listing of the group invoice items 1330, and may also indicatewhich invoice items 1330 have already been apportioned, such as theinvoice items 1430 and 1432. As will be appreciated, thealready-apportioned invoice items 1430 and 1432 may not be selectable onthe screen 1438. As illustrated in the present figure, the initiator mayselect a shared invoice item 1440 in order to apportion this itemamongst multiple group transaction members. For example, upon selectingthe invoice item 1440, the pop-up window 1442 may be displayed on thescreen 1438.

The pop-up window 1442 may display a listing of the present grouptransaction members 1402. As shown here, a check box graphic may beprovided with each group transaction member. Accordingly, the initiatormay specify how the invoice item 1440 is to be apportioned by selectingthe appropriate group transaction members using the check box graphicsassociated with each respective member. Additionally, as illustrated inthe present figure, the initiator may apportion the shared invoice item1440 equally amongst all the group transaction members 1402 by selectingthe check box graphic represented here by the reference number 1444.Once the appropriate selection is made, the initiator may select thegraphical button 1446 to apportion the shared invoice item 1440 inaccordance with the selection reflected in the pop-up window 1442.Additionally, the initiator may cancel this apportionment process byselecting the graphical button 1448. Upon selection of the graphicalbutton 1446, the invoice item 1440 may be apportioned equally amongstall of the group transaction members 1402 and the initiator may bereturned to the screen 1400. As shown in the listing of the groupinvoice items 1330 on the updated screen 1400, the listing of theinvoice item 1440 may be updated to indicate that that this item hasalready been apportioned, as discussed above.

Continuing now to FIG. 30H, after apportioning the shared invoice item1440, the initiator may continue to apportion additional invoice items.For example, FIG. 30H illustrates the apportionment of the invoice items1452 and 1454 that may correspond to amounts owed by the NFC payor. Asillustrated in the present figure, once the invoice items 1452 and 1454are properly apportioned, their respective listings may be updated onthe screen 1400, as discussed above. As will be appreciated, during theapportioning of the invoice items 1330, the initiator may select one ormore of the group transaction members displayed in the listing 1402 toview the current status of a partial invoice. For example, by selectingthe NFC payor, the initiator may view the screen 1456, which may displaya partial invoice corresponding to the amount owed by the NFC payor. Asshown here, the screen 1456 may display the NFC payor's portion of theshared invoice item 1440, as well as the additional invoice items 1452and 1454. Further, as discussed above, based on the total cost of theapportioned invoice items, any applicable tax and gratuity amount may beautomatically computed, as indicated here by the reference numeral 1458.Thus, by summing the above items, tax, and gratuity amounts, a totalamount for the partial invoice, referred to here by the referencenumeral 1460, may be displayed. Additionally, the screen 1456 may alsoprovide the graphical button 1462 by which the initiator may removeapportioned items from the present group transaction member, such asitems that may have been erroneously apportioned. To continue with theapportioning of the remaining group invoice items 1130, the initiatormay select the graphical button 1464 to return to the screen 1400.

Once all of the group invoice items 1330 have been properly apportioned,as depicted in the updated screen 1400, the initiator may begin theprocess of collecting payments from each of the group transactionmembers, as discussed above with reference to the steps 1234-1240 in themethod 1220 of FIG. 29, by selecting the graphical button 1466. Asillustrated in the present figure, the selection of the graphical button1466 may display the screen 1470 on the initiator device. The screen1400 may display graphical buttons, such as the graphical buttons 1472,1474, and 1476, each of which may correspond to a respective one of thegroup transaction members 1402. For instance, the graphical button 1472may correspond to the NFC payor, the graphical button 1474 maycorrespond to the credit card payor, and the graphical button 1476 maycorrespond to the smart card payor, as discussed above. As will beunderstood, the screen 1470 may not include a graphical buttoncorresponding to the initiator, because in paying the group invoice 1180in the primary transaction 1172, the initiator has already satisfied theinitiator's respective portion of the group invoice 1080.

The collection of payments from each of the remaining group transactionmembers depicted by the graphical buttons 1472, 1474, and 1476, may becarried out in accordance with one or more of the transaction techniquesdiscussed above. For example, by selecting the graphical button 1472,the initiator may be advanced to the screen 1480, which may display aplurality of graphical buttons 1482, 1484, 1486, and 1488. Each of thesegraphical buttons may represent different methods in which a payment maybe obtained from the corresponding from the group transaction member.For instance, the graphical button 1482 may represent the techniquesdepicted by the transactions 375, 376 or 378 in FIGS. 12A, 12B, and 12C,respectively. Additionally, the graphical button 1484 may represent thetransaction techniques described above with reference to the transaction860 described in FIG. 20. Further, the graphical button 1486 mayrepresent the function described in the transactions 952 and 970 anddepicted in FIGS. 23 and 24, respectively. As shown here, the initiatormay also have the option of receiving a cash payment form thecorresponding group transaction member by selecting the graphical button1488. Although not explained in detail here, the selection of thegraphical button 1488 may simply display a confirmation screen by whichthe initiator may confirm receipt of the payment once a cash paymentcorresponding to the partial invoice amount has been transferred fromthe group transaction member to the initiator. Lastly, the graphicalbutton 1490 may allow the initiator to cancel the present transaction orto return to the screen 1470, if necessary.

As discussed above, the NFC payor may be in possession of the NFC payordevice 92. Accordingly, the initiator may choose to acquire a paymentfrom the NFC payor by selecting the graphical button 1482 to initiate apayment by establishing an NFC connection (e.g., 1196) between the NFCinterfaces 60 of each respective device 10 and 92 in order to exchangeinformation pertaining to the partial invoice and a correspondingpayment account that may be selected by the NFC payor. For instance, asillustrated in the present figure, the selection of the graphical button1482 may display the screen 1494 on the initiator device 10. The screen1494 may display the notification message 1496, which may generallyinform the initiator that the NFC connection 1194 is being establishedand that a tap operation to the NFC payor device 92 may be required. Thescreen 1494 may also include the graphical button 1498, thus allowingthe initiator to cancel the establishment of the NFC connection 1196 ifnecessary.

Once the partial invoice 1198 and the payment information 1200 have beenexchanged between the initiator device 10 and the payor device 92, asdepicted in FIG. 28, the screen 1500 may be displayed on the initiatordevice. The screen 1500 may display the identity of the initiator 1502,the identity of the NFC payor 1504, as well as the payment amount, whichmay correspond to the partial invoice amount 1460 depicted on the screen1456 in FIG. 30H. The screen 1500 may also display the payment accountselected by the NFC payor in accordance with the techniques discussedabove, which may be the NFC payor's default payment account 554, asillustrated in FIG. 14E. The screen 1500 may also display the presentlyselected crediting account, which may be the default crediting account216. Thus, as discussed above, in order to accept the payment amount1460 being offered by the NFC payor, the initiator may select thegraphical button 686 to credit the requested payment to the defaultcrediting account 216. Thereafter, if the transaction is successfullycompleted, the screen 1510 may be displayed on the initiator device. Thescreen 1510 may include the notification message 1512 which maygenerally indicate to the initiator that the amount 1460 owed by the NFCpayor has been credited to the initiator's crediting account 216.Additionally, the notification message 1512 may also indicate that anacknowledgment or receipt has been provided to the NFC payor.Thereafter, the initiator may return to the screen 1400 by selecting thegraphical button 1514 to collect the remaining payments from the smartcard payor and the credit card payor, or cancel or end the transactionby selecting the graphical button 1516.

Continuing now to FIG. 30J, once the payment has been received by theNFC payor, the listing 1402 on the screen 1400 may be updated, asindicated by the reference number 1518, to indicate that a transactionbetween the initiator and the NFC payor has been completed. Next, theinitiator may continue to collect the remaining outstanding partialinvoices from the credit card payor and the smart card payor byselecting the graphical button 1466 again. Upon selection of thegraphical button 1466 in FIG. 30J, the initiator may be navigated to thescreen 1470. As illustrated in the present figure, the screen 1470 maybe updated to reflect that the amount owed by the NFC payor has beenreceived by the initiator. For instance, the presently illustratedscreen 1470 may be updated wherein the previously displayed graphicalbutton 1472 is removed, and only the remaining graphical buttons 1474and 1476 are displayed, each of which may represent the outstandingpayments owed by the credit card payor and the smart card payor.

Here, by selecting the graphical button 1476, the initiator may returnto the screen 1480, as discussed above in FIG. 30I, by which theinitiator may select an appropriate method for receiving a payment fromthe smart card payor. For example, in the present figure, the initiatormay select the graphical button 1484 to initiate the receipt of apayment using the techniques discussed above with reference to FIG. 20.For example, upon selection of the graphical button 1484, the screen1520 may be displayed on the device 10 and display the notificationmessage 1522 indicating to the initiator that the NFC interface on thedevice 10 is presently active, and that an NFC connection 1196 may beinitiated by tapping the smart card 862 and the initiator device 10, asillustrated in FIG. 28. Next, once the information stored on the storagechip 864 of the smart card 862 has been received by the initiatordevice, such as by way of the NFC connection 1196, the screen 1500 maybe displayed. As discussed above, the screen 1500 may display theidentity of the initiator, as well as the identity of the smart cardpayor, referred to here by the reference number 1526. The screen 1500may also display a payment amount 1528 that may correspond to thepartial invoice owed by the credit card payor. Thus, the initiator mayselect the graphical button 686 to initiate the transactionauthorization actions discussed above, such as transmitting the presentinformation to the financial servers 100, in order to credit the paymentamount 1528 to the crediting account 216. As shown in the screen 1510,the notification message 1512 may be displayed if the presenttransaction is successfully processed, and the smart card 862 is chargedfor the amount 1528. Thereafter, in order to complete the grouptransaction, the initiator may then select the graphical button 1514 toreturn to the screen 1400 and to collect the final outstanding paymentfrom the credit card payor.

Continuing now to FIG. 30K, upon selection of the graphical button 1514,the screen 1400 may be updated and displayed on the initiator device 10.As shown in the present figure, the listing 1402 on the updated screen1400 may indicate that the partial invoice owed by the smart card payorhas been received by the initiator, as referred to here by the referencenumeral 1532. Accordingly, to collect the remaining payment owed by thecredit card payor, the initiator may select the graphical button 1466 toaccess the updated screen 1470. As shown here, the updated screen 1470may now only display the graphical button 1474, which reflects the onlyremaining payment owed to the initiator. By selecting the graphicalbutton 1474, the initiator may proceed to the screen 1480, and selectthe graphical button 1486 in order to obtain a payment from the creditcard payor's magnetic credit card 954 using the image processing andinformation extraction techniques referred to here by the referencenumber 1540 and generally described above with reference to thetransactions 952 and 970, as depicted by FIGS. 23 and 24, respectively.For example, the initiator device 10 may acquire an image 1212 of themagnetic credit card 954 using the camera 48 discussed above. Once theimage 1212 has been acquired by the initiator device 10, one or moreimage processing techniques, such as the OCR techniques mentioned above,may be utilized to extract information from the image 1212 correspondingto the credit card account represented by the credit card 954.

Continuing to FIG. 30L, once the required credit card information hasbeen extracted from the image 1212, the screen 1060 discussed above withreference to FIG. 26D may be displayed. Though not illustrated here, itshould be understood that the various techniques discussed above forediting the extracted card information for any inaccuracies that mayhave occurred during the image processing and extraction steps 1540 mayalso be provided. In order to credit the partial invoice owed by thecredit card payor to the crediting account 216, the initiator may selectthe graphical button 686. The selection of the graphical button 686 maynavigate the initiator to the screen 1066 which, as discussed above, mayrepresent one or more additional authorization actions that must beperformed by the credit card payor before the transaction may beprocessed. For example, the screen 1066 may require that the credit cardpayor enter the invoice amount in the text field 1068, as well asprovide a CVV code corresponding to the credit card 954 in the textfield 1070. Additionally, the credit card payor may have the option ofproviding an e-mail address in the text field 1072, which may be used totransmit a payment receipt to the credit card payor once the transactionhas been completed.

Once the information required by the field is displayed on screen 1066has been provided by the credit card payor, the remaining transactionmay be processed by selecting the graphical button 1074. If thetransaction is successfully processed, the screen 1510 may be displayedon the initiator device 10, including the notification message 1512indicating to the initiator that the final payment owed by the creditcard payor has been received and credited to the crediting account 216.The initiator may then exit the transaction by selecting the graphicalbutton 1516. Alternatively, if the initiator chooses to return to theinvoice screen 1400, the pop-up window 1542 may be displayed, asillustrated in the present figure. The pop-up window 1542 may indicateto the initiator that all outstanding payments have been received fromthe group transaction members. The pop-up window may also include thegraphical button 1544 by which the user may select to initiate asubsequent group transaction and the graphical button 1546 by which theinitiator may accept to exit the completed group transaction, and thusreturn to the home screen 29 of the device 10, for example.

While the determination of each partial invoice in the above-describedgroup transaction is provided by way of the apportioning of specificgroup invoice items, as illustrated in FIGS. 30E-30H, it should beunderstood that this technique is merely intended to provide an exampleof one possible implementation. Indeed, in additional implementations,the transaction application 34 executed on the devices 10 or 92 mayallow the initiator or the group transaction members themselves tospecify a partial payment amount to satisfy their respective portions ofthe group invoice.

Continuing now to FIG. 31, an alternate implementation of a systemconfigured to conduct the group transaction discussed above withreference to FIG. 28, is illustrated and generally designated here bythe reference number 1560. The illustrated transaction 1560 may differfrom the transaction 1170 discussed above in that the vendor device 1176may act as the initiating device for the presently illustratedtransaction. Additionally, the device 10 in the present transaction 1560may act as a payor making a payment with regard to a partial invoice tothe vendor. As will be appreciated, the presently illustratedtransaction may not include the primary transaction step 1172 and thesecondary transaction step 1174 discussed in FIG. 28, but rather may becompleted in a single group of transactions in which a payment isreceived from each of the credit card payor, the smart card payor, theNFC payor associated with the NFC payor device 92, as well as the NFCpayor associated with the NFC payor device 10. For the purposes ofdifferentiating between the users of the device 10 and the device 92,the respective users of these devices shall be referred to as the firstNFC payor (corresponding to the NFC payor device 10) and the second NFCpayor (corresponding to the NFC payor device 92). As discussed above,the vendor device 1176 may establish an ad-hoc network by which allcapable devices participating in the present transaction 1560 may join.For example, as illustrated here, the device 10 and the device 92 mayjoin the ad-hoc network 1562 to receive the current invoice 1564, whichmay reflect a group invoice collectively representing a total amountowed by each of the presently illustrated transaction members. Also, asdiscussed above, the first and second NFC payors may view the currentinvoice 1564, which may be updated in real time during the course of thetransaction 1560, such as to reflect the apportioning of invoice itemsto corresponding transaction members, as well as to reflect the receiptof payments by the vendor from the group transaction members.

Once all the invoice items have been properly apportioned on the vendordevice, partial invoices may be communicated to each of the payorsparticipating in the transaction 1560. For example, a partial invoicecorresponding to the amount owed by the first NFC payor, representedhere by the reference number 1568, may be transmitted from the vendordevice 1176 to the NFC payor device 10 by way of an established NFCconnection 1566. As discussed above, the establishment of the NFCconnection 1566 may require a tap operation between each of the payordevice 10 and the vendor device 1176. Upon receiving the partial invoice1568, the first NFC payor may select a payment account on the device 10,and transmit the payment account information, represented here byreference number 1570, to the vendor device 1176 by way of the NFCconnection 166. As discussed above, the vendor device 1176 may thentransmit the transaction information 1572, which may also include aselected crediting account, to the financial servers 100 by way of thenetwork 1574, which may be provided by any of the suitable networksdiscussed above. If the requested transaction 1572 is authorized by thefinancial servers, a payment, represented by the reference number 1576,may be credited to the vendor's selected crediting account.Additionally, any payments received by the vendor device during thecourse of the present transaction 1560, may be indicated on the currentinvoice 1564 being viewed by the first and second NFC payors by way ofthe ad-hoc network 1562. As will be understood, the current invoice 1562may be updated to reflect outstanding payments that have already beenreceived.

Next, the vendor device may further transmit the partial invoice 1582corresponding to the second NFC payor. For example, as illustrated inthe present figure, the partial invoice 1582 may be transmitted to thepayor device 92 by way of the NFC connection 166. Thus, as discussedabove, the second NFC payor may select a payment account, represented bythe reference number 1584, and transmit the corresponding informationwith regard to the selected payment account to the vendor device, whichmay then further transmit the information 1572 to the financial serversfor authorization and processing. Additionally, the vendor device mayalso receive payment information from the smart card 862, by way of theNFC network 1566. For example, as discussed above, using an NFC tapoperation, information stored on a storage chip contained within thesmart card 862, represented here by the reference number 1588, may betransmitted to the vendor device 1176.

The vendor device 1176 may also include a camera, such as the camera 48discussed above, that may be used to obtain an image of the magneticcredit card 954. Once obtained, the image, referred to here by thereference number 1590, may be processed using one or more of thetechniques discussed above for extracting account informationcorresponding to the credit card 954. As will be understood, the paymentinformation received from each of the payors participating in the grouptransaction 1560 may be transmitted to the financial servers 100 forprocessing. Thus, if the requested payments are authorized by thefinancial servers, a corresponding payment, represented here by thereference number 1576, will be applied to the vendor's selectedcrediting account, as discussed above.

Referring now to FIGS. 32A-32D, a series of screen images depicting theoperation of the vendor device 1176 in carrying out the transaction 1560is illustrated in accordance with a further implementation of thepresently described techniques. It should be understood that the vendordevice 1176 may include a transaction application similar to thetransaction application 34 discussed above with reference to theelectronic device 10. For example, as shown in FIG. 32A, the screen 110may be displayed on the vendor device 1176. By selecting the graphicalbutton 114, the vendor may navigate to the screen 476, and furtherselect the graphical button 482 to access the graphical buttons 1272,1274, and 1276 on the screen 1270. Here, the vendor may initiate thegroup transaction 1560 by selecting the graphical button 1272, thusadvancing to the screen 1278.

As discussed above, the screen 1278 may display several options forperforming a group transaction. Here, instead of selecting the graphicalbutton 1280, as discussed above with reference to the transaction 1170of FIG. 28, the option represented by the check box 1282 may be selectedinstead. Once selected, the vendor may further select the graphicalbutton 1284 to proceed with the present transaction 1560. For instance,the selection of the graphical button 1284 may navigate the vendor tothe screen 1594 depicted in FIG. 32B.

As discussed above, the present transaction may occur in the context ofa restaurant bill in which a listing of tables at the restaurantlocation, referred to here by the reference numeral 1596, is displayed.Each of the displayed tables may include an indicator with regard to thestatus of the members seated at each table. For instance, a table may beindicated as “ready,” meaning that the customers have finished the mealand are ready to pay the bill. Additionally, empty tables may bedesignated as “empty,” and tables in which the customers are stilleating may be designated as “pending.” For example, the table 1598 inthe listing 1596 may indicate that the customers are ready to pay theinvoice. As illustrated, by selecting the table 1594, the vendor maynavigate to the screen 1600. The screen 1600 may be similar to thescreen 1370 discussed above with reference to FIG. 30C, in that thepresently illustrated screen may establish an ad-hoc network, by whichother capable devices, such as the devices 10 and 92, may join. Thescreen 1600 may display the identity of the vendor 1602, as well as anidentifier for the present transaction 1604. Once all capable devices,such as the devices 10 and 92, have joined the ad-hoc network 1194, asindicated here by the reference numbers 1608 and 1610, the vendor mayselect the graphical button 1606 to continue to the screen 1614 depictedin FIG. 32C.

As shown in the screen 1614, a listing of the transaction members 1616,which may initially include the first and second NFC payors, may bedisplayed. The screen 1614 may also display a listing of the groupinvoice items 1330. By selecting the graphical button 1406, the vendormay perform the functions generally depicted by the screen images inFIG. 30E to add the credit card payor and the smart card payor to thepresent transaction, thus updating the listing of group transactionmembers 1616. Next, once all the group transaction members have beenadded to the present transaction, the vendor may proceed with theapportionment of the group invoice items to the correspondingtransaction members. For instance, as discussed above, the variousinvoice items, such as the invoice item 1430, may be apportioned to therespective group transaction member using a drag/drop operation.

Continuing now to FIG. 32D, the vendor may continue to apportion all theremaining group invoice items 1330, as illustrated in the updated screen1614 of the present figure. Additionally, it should be noted that theamount owed by each of the group transaction members 1616 may be updatedduring the apportionment process. As discussed above, once the amountsof each partial invoice have been determined, the vendor may select thegraphical button 1466 in order to proceed to the screen 1620, in whichthe vendor may initiate the process of collecting the correspondingpayments from each of the group transaction members. For instance, theillustrated screen 1620 may display the graphical buttons 1622, 1624,1626, and 1628. As discussed above, each of these graphical buttons maycorrespond to an amount owed by a respective one of the grouptransaction members 1616. Thus, in a manner similar to the stepsdepicted by the screens illustrated in FIGS. 30I-30K, the vendor maycollect a payment from each of the group transaction members byselecting one of the graphical buttons 1622, 1624, 1626, and 1628.

Upon selection of one of the displayed graphical buttons 1622, 1624,1626, and 1628, payment information may be received from the selectedgroup transaction member. Thereafter, a corresponding technique forprocessing each transaction in accordance with the method by which thepayment information is obtained may be carried out, as indicated by thereference number 1630. For example, as will be understood, the selectionof the graphical button 1622 may initiate an NFC payment request, suchas by way of the NFC connection 1566 depicted in FIG. 31, to the firstNFC payor on the device 10. Accordingly, the first NFC payor may providepayment information, as represented by the reference number 1570 in FIG.31, to the vendor device 1176 by way of the NFC connection 1566. As willbe understood, the vendor may proceed to collect a payment from each ofthe group transaction members until all outstanding payments have beenreceived. Additionally, though not illustrated in the present figure, itshould be understood that each of group transaction members may have theoption of specifying gratuity amounts, if necessary, prior totransmitting the payment information to the vendor device 1176.

Once all outstanding payments are received by the vendor, a popup window1632 may be displayed on the screen 1614. As shown in FIG. 32D, thepop-up window may indicate to the vendor that all outstanding paymentshave been received from the group transaction members 1616.Additionally, the pop-up window 1632 may display the graphical button1634 by which the vendor may initiate a subsequent group transaction,and the graphical button 1636 by which the vendor may select to exit thegroup transaction application. Although the present group transactiontechniques have been described in the embodiments illustrated in FIG. 28and FIG. 31 specifically in the context of apportioning a restaurantbill, it should be understood that the present techniques may beapplicable to any group transaction settings in which multiple payorsare included.

As shown in the presently illustrated figures, the variousfunctionalities discussed herein may be provided by way of thetransaction application (e.g., represented by the icon 34) stored on adevice incorporating one or more aspects of the present disclosure.Indeed, the transaction application may include encoded instructionsstored on one or more machine readable media, such as the storage device54, and configured to be executed by the processor 50 to provide for oneor more of the functionalities of the device 10 discussed above.Additionally, it should be appreciated that the transaction applicationmay also include encoded instructions defining the various graphicalscreen images and user interface functions discussed throughout thepresent disclosure. However, it should also be understood that thefunctionalities set forth and described in the above figures may beachieved using a wide variety graphical elements and visual schemes, andthat the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the preciseuser interface conventions depicted above.

While the present invention may be susceptible to various modificationsand alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way ofexample in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. However,it should be understood that the techniques set forth in the presentdisclosure are not intended to be limited to the particular formsdisclosed. Rather, the invention is to cover all modifications,equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of thedisclosure as defined by the following appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for conducting a group transactioncomprising: acquiring by an initiator device a group invoice comprisinga complete list of a plurality of group invoice items; forming, by theinitiator device, an ad hoc network of customers' devices, wherein thecustomers associated with the customers' devices have a potentialpayment obligation for a portion of the group invoice, the ad hocnetwork including the initiator device connected for reconciling thegroup invoice; transmitting, by way of the ad hoc network, the groupinvoice to each of the customers' devices in the ad hoc network;receiving an apportionment of the group invoice items to at least aplurality of the customers; updating the group invoice, wherein updatingthe group invoice includes listing the identity of the customer assignedto each partial invoice of a plurality of partial invoices, wherein theplurality of partial invoices are determined based on the receivedapportionment of the group invoice items; and collecting by theinitiator device, a payment for the each of the partial invoices basedon payment information received from the respective customer device. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring the group invoice comprisesreceiving the group invoice using a communication interface on theinitiator device, the communication interface being configured toestablish a communication path with a communication interface on avendor device.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the communicationinterface on the initiator device comprises an NFC interface, andwherein the communication path comprises an NFC path established by anNFC tap operation between the initiator device and the vendor device. 4.The method of claim 2, further comprising: paying an entirety of thegroup invoice, wherein settling the entirety of the group invoicecomprises: determining a payment account stored on the initiator device;and transmitting payment information to the vendor device using thecommunication interface, the payment information including thedetermined payment account, the vendor device being configured totransmit the payment information to at least one external serverconfigured to authorize a payment to satisfy the group invoice using thedetermined payment account.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein collectinga payment comprises: acquiring the payment information from anelectronic device of a group member, the payment information including apayment account selected by the group member.
 6. The method of claim 5,further comprising: transmitting the payment information to at least oneexternal server to obtain authorization to receive a payment made fromthe payment account.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein acquiring thepayment information from the electronic device of a group membercomprises receiving the payment information using a communicationinterface.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein acquiring the paymentinformation comprises: acquiring an image of a payment instrument; andprocessing the acquired image to extract payment information data. 9.The method of claim 5, wherein the payment account comprises a creditcard account, a bank account, or a non-cash account.
 10. A system forconducting a group transaction, the system comprising an initiatinghandheld electronic device configured to: establish a communication pathwith a communication interface of a vendor device and to acquire a groupinvoice from the vendor device through the communication path, whereinthe group invoice comprises a complete list of a plurality of items onthe group invoice; initiate formation of an ad hoc network of customers'devices, wherein the customers have a potential payment obligation for aportion of the group invoice, the ad hoc network including theinitiating handheld electronic device connected for reconciling thegroup invoice; transmit, by way of the ad hoc network, the group invoiceto each of the customers' devices; receive an apportionment of the groupinvoice items to at least a plurality of the customers; update the groupinvoice, wherein updating the group invoice includes listing theidentity of the customer device assigned to each partial invoice of aplurality of partial invoices, wherein the plurality of partial invoicesare determined based on the received apportionment of the group invoiceitems; and collect a payment for each of the partial invoices byreceiving payment information for each of respective group members. 11.The system of claim 10, wherein the communication interface of theinitiating handheld electronic device comprises an NFC interface, andwherein the communication path comprises an NFC path.
 12. The system ofclaim 10, wherein the initiating handheld electronic device isconfigured to update the group invoice that is provided to each groupmember as one or more partial invoices are settled by group members, theupdating of the group invoice resulting in displaying on the customers'devices which group member settled their assigned partial invoice. 13.The system of claim 10, wherein the initiating handheld electronicdevice is configured to determine a crediting account for receiving thepayment from an electronic device of a group member and wherein thepayment information includes at least one payment account selected usingthe electronic device of the group member.
 14. The system of claim 13,wherein the payment information is received on the initiating handheldelectronic device.
 15. The system of claim 13, wherein the initiatinghandheld electronic device is further configured to transmit the paymentinformation to at least one external server configured to authorize,based upon acquired payment information, a payment corresponding to apartial invoice, wherein the payment is credited to the creditingaccount if the payment is authorized by the at least one externalserver.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one externalserver comprises at least one of a credit card server, a bank server, oran external server associated with a non-cash account.
 17. A handheldelectronic device comprising: a processor; at least one communicationinterface configured to initiate formation of an ad hoc network ofcustomers' devices; and a memory device communicatively coupled to theprocessor and configured to store a transaction application executableby the processor, wherein the transaction application is configured to:receive from a vendor device, a group invoice including a plurality ofindividual group invoice items and respective costs, initiate formationof the ad hoc network between the handheld electronic device and aplurality of customers' devices, wherein the customers have a potentialpayment obligation for a portion of the group invoice, the ad hocnetwork of customers' devices including the electronic device; update,in real time, the group invoice provided to the customers' devices asthe individual group invoice items are apportioned to group members. 18.The handheld electronic device of claim 17, wherein the transactionapplication is further configured to determine a crediting account forreceiving the payment from the electronic device of a group member,wherein the crediting account is determined based upon one or moreinputs provided by a user of the handheld electronic device.
 19. Thehandheld electronic device of claim 18, wherein the transactionapplication is configured to determine the crediting account based upona previous configuration performed by a user of the handheld electronicdevice.
 20. The handheld electronic device of claim 18, wherein thetransaction application is configured to determine crediting account bydisplaying a listing of crediting account information stored on thehandheld electronic device in response to a request by a user of thehandheld electronic device and to select a crediting account from thelisting based upon a selection input received from the user of thehandheld electronic device.